


The Disciples of Exar Kun

by ashangel101010



Series: The Jedi Prince [4]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (2015), Star Wars Legends - All Media Types
Genre: Anakin and Dooku discuss poetry, Anakin and Dooku work together, And Exar Kun finally meets his disciples, And Exar Kun is totally Hux's crush, And Exar Kun reflects, And Millicent gets her first psuedo-apperance, And it doesn't scare Armitage Hux away, And where the Seven Sith Hells are the parents?, Armitage is an X-Men fan, Ben Solo Needs A Hug, Ben and Dead-Star interact, Ben has a big nose and Hux loves it!, Ben vs. the dead-star dragon, Brendol Hux Can Sing, Brendol and Han interact, Brendol and Luke crack jokes, Brendol gets shot, Brendol is a lot like Armitage, Dead-Star Dragon learns to stop worrying about water and love the nudity, Desolous is the Grand Inquisitor, Developing Friendships, Dooku is in this story, Dooku is tired of Anakin's family shit, Dune References, Exar Kun is teaching, F/M, Gen, Hopeful Ending, Human Disaster Anakin Skywalker, Hux bathes the dragon-prince, Hux eats, Hux is So Done, Hux is hot for teacher, Hux is thinking hard, Hux vs. the never-ending catacombs, Jealousy, Late at Night, Leia does not understand the Hux family, Luke Skywalker is worried, Luke does not understand the Hux family, M/M, Moving Meditation, Multi, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Parental Kanan Jarrus, Possessive Behavior, Rae Sloane didn't do it, Scarred Armitage Hux, Sith Temple, Snow White Elements, The Dead-Star Dragon is Ben now, The Dead-Star Dragon is being pissy, The Dead-Star Dragon is tired, The Dead-Star Dragon wrestles for control, The Force Ghosts are back, The Solo-Skywalker part of Ben Solo come out, The dragon-prince is terrified of drowning, Then again Armitage is more concerned with the quest, Twin Peaks References, Underground Dueling, Who shall win?, Young Armitage Hux, Young Ben Solo, just a lot of talking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-02
Updated: 2018-10-05
Packaged: 2018-10-14 05:04:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 23
Words: 40,931
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10529514
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ashangel101010/pseuds/ashangel101010
Summary: Armitage Hux and Prince Amidala venture deeper in the Sith Temple to meet with Exar Kun. The Sith Spirit then decides to take them on as his disciples. Even though Hux is a Force-null and Ben is only ten.





	1. The Glitterstim Web

**Author's Note:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe.
> 
> Okay, it’s been quite a while since I’ve done a multi-chapter work, and considering my abysmal track record for multi-chapter works, it’s fair to assume that I won’t be doing this again for a while. I’m hoping for this to last only thirteen chapters, but it may go on longer than that. I also hope to keep the chapters concise because I want to work on my concision when I can.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Prologue

*

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Willow by Jasmine Thompson

*

            Armitage Hux has not been in a Sith temple since he was eight. Back then, he could not see. At least, with his eyes. His hands became his third eye. _I was like father; I was so very much like father. I saw in the darkness and kept my mind. Like father. I was alone then, but…I have the Prince with me._ He feels the Prince’s small hand squeeze his own hand.

They are wholly in the darkness since leaving behind the sixtieth stone step. Even with his free right hand feeling the walls on his side of the staircase, Hux cannot see anything in the walls. He feels no jagged cracks nor bold pictographs like those that lined the outside walls of the temple; the walls inside are as smooth as a polished corusca gem.

Once again, he’s blind.

“Are you cold?” The Prince asks him, and Hux turns his head and cannot see the contours of the Prince’s face. Not even his handsome nose.

“Kind of. I can’t feel the tips of my toes, but my hand is perfectly warm!” Sith temples are naturally cold because of their affiliation with the Dark Side; what use does the darkness have for the warm light? _And this coldness isn’t a deterrent like in other Sith temples, the cold is more like a single needle pricking the tips of my lightly-clothed body. So the Sith Lord that designed this place wanted people to come, or at least certain people._ Still, Hux wishes that he wore thicker socks.

“Well, I’m using the Force to keep our hands warm. It’s one of the few Light things that I can do. Well, perfectly that is.” Hux can hear the bitter resignation in the Prince’s voice and imagines him looking down at his brown boots in this darkness.

“Perfection does not exist. You can strive for it like peace, but, like peace, it’s ultimately unattainable.” _Absolutes are for Sith_ , or at least that’s what Hux gleamed from his readings of _The Jedi Path_ and from the bitter ramblings of Mara Jade.

“I wish my uncle and mom would acknowledge that piece of wisdom…” Hux has to bite down on his tongue from impulsively saying that they’re just morons for not knowing something so simple. _For all I know, they did try other ways to manage his Force prowess before deciding that being a Jedi was the only way. I doubt that since Skywalker has probably never ventured beyond his Jedi tomes and Senator Organa seems too busy with the Republic, but I could be wrong._ Or, Hux hopes he’s wrong.

“Maybe you can tell them that after the quest is over.” He then hears a snort erupt from the Prince and knows that an eye-roll accompanied that snort.

“Yeah, if we ever reach the bottom. When you were feeling the walls outside, did it give you any indication how many karking steps this place has?” Hux’s eyes widen at the Prince’s casual, if a little snappish, swear. _Woah, he swore! Well, by Republic standards, so either he’s comfortable enough around me to swear or he’s really annoyed. Most likely both because we’ve been walking down these steps for maybe twenty minutes. Oh Force……the way back up is going to be such a pain!_

“No, it was mostly magic and protection spells. You know typical stuff for Sith temples. Although, I am surprised we haven’t sprung a trap.” Hux then pauses for dramatic effect to see if the temple would retaliate, but nothing happens.

“How do you know this is a Sith temple?” _I’m kind of surprise he didn’t ask me sooner, but I doubt Skywalker teaches “Sith Temple Architecture 101” to his students._ Hux nearly giggles as he imagines Jedi Master Skywalker with a holoprojector showing holos of Sith temples like vacation holos.

“For one, the walls outside were etched in Ancient Sith, which looks a lot like Modern Sith but with more demonic runes instead of cutting cursive. Sith Lords love pyramids and have fine, dark tastes; this temple is a pyramid and made of expensive black stones. And there is one last thing that all Sith temples have that Jedi temples just don’t.”

“What is that?”

“Mind fucks. We’ve been walking across solid ground for nearly a minute now.”

*

_Mind fucks. We’ve been walking across solid ground for nearly a minute now._ Ben Solo halts suddenly, while also jerking his Wistie to a stop.

“So Sith temples play tricks on us? To lead us to what? Our deaths!?” _Stupid, stupid Ben! You really think that voices in the night would actually help you!? The Maid heard voices and she was burned at the stake for that! Of course, they would lead me to death, and my Wistie—_

“Well, decent Sith Lords tend to play around with their victims for a little bit. Kind of why the smart victims tend to get away from them. And between the both of us, we’re the smartest people on this kriffing planet!” Ben’s little heart melts at Hux’s boundless confidence. _I can be smart, but clearly not with the Force! And there’s a high chance that I just doomed the both of us! Force, maybe we can turn—_

“And our way in is most likely sealed by now.” Ben furrows his thick, black brows. _I didn’t hear that half-a-ton stone door go back up! But, of course, that would happen!!!_

“I guess we should continue our ‘quest’ then…..” He sulks, but his Wistie doesn’t utter a complaint for his lack of enthusiasm like his dad would. _“Kid, would it kill you to smile?”_ Ben hears his dad’s flippant voice for a second.

“Yeah! Oh, um, can you use the Force to possibly _feel_ out this place?”

“For what? Something dark and freezing? Because I can feel that with my body alone.” Ben wants to slap himself for sounding so flippant with his Wistie. _Kriff! Without my costumes or a plan, I’m reverting into a Solo-Skywalker! But without any of their charms!_

“Actually, I was kind of hoping you could locate your new teacher. He or she told you to come here, surely that person must be still in here. Somewhere.” Ben again wants to slap himself, but this time at his own lack of creativity. _I guess that’s all me, Ben Solo! Force……time to see if this will actually work._

He stretches out the Force before him like a glitterstim web. He hopes he’ll _catch_ a Force signature from the voice.

And, Force, he can _feel_ the Dark Side.

He exhales a sharp, shaky breath and feels his knees wobble; he’s trembling like he’s been cornered by a rancor-wolf again. But there’s no Chewie to save him.

And he’s savaged by the beast.

*


	2. The Bogey

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben faces the beast, while Armitage gets to carry him around like a princess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe. 
> 
> You know how I claimed at the end of the last chapter that Ben and Armitage will meet Exar Kun in this? Yeah, I lied again.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter One

*

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Bolero (Legion Version) by Maurice Ravel

*

            Hux feels half his body be pulled down to the cold, stone floor by the Prince. He concludes that the Prince must’ve been overwhelmed by the Dark Side of this place. _I should have never told him to open himself to the Force here! He’s a Jedi, and, of course, a Sith temple would be designed to take out Jedi!_ He berates himself for only a second before turning his attention towards the Prince.

He gropes for the Prince’s face and comes across his regal nose. _He’s breathing, at least through his cute nose! Focus, Armitage!_ He moves his hands away from the Prince’s royal schnozz and finds his wrist to check his pulse. _Okay, the pulse is a bit low, but he is a Jedi, so he’s living a rather active lifestyle._ Hux then tries gently shaking him and gets no response from the Prince.

_So the Prince has suddenly passed out, probably due to the effects of the temple, and probably won’t regain consciousness for a while. Or until I get us away from the temple……and it’s still pfassking pitch-black in here! I guess the only thing to do is just continue going onwards and hope for an exit. And I’ll have to carry him._ Hux then picks up the Prince and marvels at how solid that the royal felt.

_He weighs more than me!_

*

Ben runs from the beast. He turns his head every now and again to see if the beast is still following him. Every time, he sees its glowing yellow eyes in its indigo, scaly head; the beast would increase its pace like the scared face of the boy replenishes its strength. Ben would increase his pace too.

_The beast had me!! How am I running now?_

Ben remembers that he was walking hand in hand with his Wistie in darkness very much like this. His Wistie suggested that he searched for his _teacher_ with the Force. He opened himself to the Force, and the beast savaged him—

_And it had me! How did I get away? I don’t have my Wistie’s sword or even a blaster! So how in the Seven Sith Hells did I get away!?_

He looks back again. He sees a sickly yellow light burning through the elongated neck of the beast. The beast unleash an inferno upon him, and all Ben can do is run faster. He finally realizes how he got away from the beast.

_It let me go, so it can burn me!_

*

Hux is very grateful for his years as cabin boy on Den’s ship; he did a lot of lifting and swabbing of the decks back then. _Huh, who would’ve thought I’d be carrying an unconscious royal again. Well, at least the Prince isn’t going to be ransomed off this time!_ And the Prince, while not the lightest royal he has ever carried since that honor belonged to Princess Arawynne, was manageable in his arms. It also helped that there are no evil stairs or high tress for him to climb. However after an hour of walking and groping the walls with an unconscious ten-year-old in his arms, Hux admits defeat.

_Force, I need a break! Seriously, when will this endless tunnel lead somewhere!? And will the Prince ever wake up!?_ Hux stops his trek and leans against the wall with the Prince still snug in his arms. He cannot see the Prince’s face, or his cute big nose, but he can feel the warmth emanating from the Prince’s still body through his Jedi Initiate clothing. He smiles down at the sleeping Prince.

_In the fairytales, true love’s kiss would wake the Sleeping Beauty…but that requires a Prince, and I’m just a bastard. A royal one, but a bastard nonetheless._ Hux slides down to the floor with a light plop, and the Prince still does not stir. He lets out a sigh and lets his mind wander for a bit.

_Is the Prince dreaming? Is he dreaming about escaping this place? About finding his mysterious teacher? About going home? About me? Nah, he’s probably dreaming about nothing._

*

The fire has no tongue to lick at him, but it has teeth to scrape the light skin from his epidermis and reveal the blacken dermis beneath. His nerves are sparking throughout his body like embers burning beneath his black-burnt body; each flicker of the ember increases the pain tenfold. All he can smell is the pungent sulfur wafting from his burnt hair and all he can taste is the acrid remains of his seared tongue. Screaming and crying has been robbed from his smoldering carcass, so all Ben could do was feel the death throes of his body.

Each breath is a suffocation.

Each twitch is an agony.

Each blink is a lash.

He can hear the dulcet, clawed steps of the beast coming his way. He hopes that the beast will finish him off and end his pain; he doesn’t care where he ends up all he wants is this pain to end!

The beast finally draws near him. He sees its long neck attached to the oblong head of blue-black scales. Its yellow eyes gaze deep into him, and its soul speaks with this black-flesh shell.

_I am the dead-star dragon and I’ve come for you, Skywalker._

And the dead-star dragon finally eats him.

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- Here is the link: 
> 
> Here is the image of Princess Arawynne. She is another character from Legends/Expanded Universe that I swear to myself that I will one day write a one-shot for. She is a Ghostling, which are sentient humanoids native to Datar and look like ethereal beauties with equally fragile bodies on worlds with heavier gravity than their light gravity world and they are considered very beautiful unless afraid and a human having sex with a Ghostling automatically results in the death of the human, and she actually met Anakin Skywalker in the Expanded Universe. In 32 BBY, Gardulla the Hutt bought some Ghostlings from Dug Podracer pilot Sebulla for her personal pleasure garden, but Anakin Skywalker, when he was a slave, and his friends helped freed her and her fellow Ghostlings. I decided to add her to my messed-up universe that mixes Legends with the New Canon, and I hope I actually get around writing that one-shot detailing how Armitage the Cabin Boy got to carry around the Ghostling Princess: [Link](http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/2/2d/Ghostling_child.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20051121200554)
> 
> Originally, I was going to end this with Hux and Ben meeting Exar Kun, but then I realized that would take away the impact of Ben’s burnt corpse being eaten by the dead-star dragon. So I decided to save it for the next chapter. Man, I have a feeling that I’m going to need to extend the chapters because originally it was going to be thirteen, but at the pace I’m going, it may be a much longer story. And, hey, maybe this’ll be my first story that I can update weekly!


	3. The Energy Spider

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Armitage finally meet Exar Kun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe. 
> 
> Warning: Exar Kun has Kyle MacLachlan’s voice because of reasons.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Two

**

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- The Heart Full of Eyes by Current 93

**

            Hux realizes after thirty minutes into his break that he did not bring his survival pack with him. He distinctly remembers his survival pack, an Imperial-issued, green backpack, in the co-pilot chair when he was on the ship. And he also remembers rushing out of the ship with his sword without even taking a second glance at his survival pack.

He facepalms hard enough to leave a red handprint across his face that he can’t see.

_Stars, I’m such an overeager idiot! I had enough ration bars and water to last us like a week! Well, the tracker is still on the ship, so the Commandant should find the ship at the end of the week. Unless General Dickhead decides to make the meetings last longer than they should. Maybe the Commandant will finally lop off his head!_ He then sighs deeply and shakes his head; the Commandant wouldn’t risk the wrath of the rest of the Shadow Council on him. Although, that action might earn him Grand Admiral Sloane as his ally. Maybe.

_Focus! You’re going to need start pleating a cup out of your shirt soon, but that’s presuming there’s water here. Maybe in the crevices? Force, I didn’t feel anything wet from the walls…And that’s presuming any water from here isn’t poisoned. I didn’t see any fish in that lake!_ He touches the Prince’s plush lips; he can feel the bumpy, dried skin of these dry lips. He frowns. He then touches the Prince’s forehead.

_He feels a bit warm yet clammy. He might have a cold, but I don’t feel any slippery snot dribbling down his wonderful nose._ His stomach begins to twist painfully with worry. Any medicine he had is back on the ship. He gnashes his slightly crooked teeth together with anger. He finally decides to go for broke.

[Hey, Sith Lord of this temple, since you haven’t immediately killed us or even sprung a trap on us, I presume you want us alive for a purpose. I don’t have any food or water on me, so, at best, the Prince and I can survive three days. But the Prince might be sick, so it could be less for him. I urge you to either show yourself or at least show us the exit because you’re going to have two dead kids that will be useless to whatever cockamamie scheme you have!] Hux speaks Ancient Sith perfectly. And he makes sure to use his anger to burn the desperation out of his words. Sith Lords do not respond well to begging.

And the Sith Lord responds by letting the wall behind his back fall.

*

There is no intermediary between the mouth and the stomach; the dead-star dragon has a throat, but it’s not part of the beast’s insides. Ben goes from the dark maw to the black pool. He sees the bubbling black liquid and then nothing; his eyes have been dissolved by the stomach acids. The body gives one last thought before its dissolution.

_At least it won’t take a thousand years._

*

Hux half-expects the second he felt the wall fall that he would drop into a deep, dark pit or tumble down a flight of hidden stairs. Instead, he falls back and lies on the cold floor with the Prince still sprawled across his lap. He tilts his head back and is once again greeted by the never-ending darkness. He sighs and hurries to get up and scoops the Prince into his arms.

_Finally, a different path. I hope this actually leads somewhere!_ Hux once more resumes his trek with the Prince. He does not bother touching the walls of this new path; he’s certain that the walls are the same as the walls from before, smooth and faceless.

After walking for six minutes, he encounters a change. The air gets mustier like a room that never gets aired out. _It smells like Maratelle’s library; there was no windows in that place and she rarely left the door open to cycle in fresh air. Except it doesn’t smell as papery; it’s more like dust on old antiques. So maybe I’m heading to some kind of treasure room?_

At the peak stench of mustiness, Hux feels the temperature drop significantly like he’s on Rhen Var again. _Oh, Force, it’s freezing! I must be in the heart of the temple! I don’t know how the Prince can still maintain his warmth._ The sleeping Prince in his arms is almost like being near a bonfire for Hux and gives the nearly shivering ginger some much needed energy.

[I made it to your heart, Sith Lord….so, would it kill you to kindle the hearth!] Hux had to pause in the middle to stop his teeth from chattering; Sith Lords also do not respond well to stammering.

The cold does not abate, but he finally gets to see.

The darkness of the chilling room is slowly lifted by the red light filling the room. Hux does not even squint because the red light is actually quite soft, even if the shade is a bit painful to look at. The light comes from a giant, red crystal, about thrice his size, hanging above a sarcophagus in the middle of the room.

Hux lays the Prince gently down on the cold ground and goes to examine the sarcophagus. The sarcophagus is about 1.9 meters long with a lid thicker than the walls outside of the temple. The sarcophagus’s lid does have a face; the face looks like it has been worn away by age, but he can make out a large nose with equally large lips and ears. There are eyes; the eyes are two gray corusca gems that look almost rosy under the red light.

_On the almost gone forehead is some strange symbol. Looks like a four-legged spider._ He reaches out to touch the symbol, wondering if it might bite him. He quickly pulls his fingers back as though he were bitten.

_FORCE! It’s so pfassking cold!_ He has never felt something so cold. Not even when he was locked in all those Sith temples in the Unknown Regions when he was eight. _Then again, this is probably the tomb of a real powerful Sith Lord. Does he still haunt this place? He has to because how else would I be in here?_

[Sith Lord, show yourself! And your coffin does not count!] He adds that last part because he knows that Sith Lords love to take advantage of loopholes.

The Sith Lord’s still form phases through his sarcophagus’s lid and immediately stands at attention by the sarcophagus. The Sith Lord’s spirit rose from his sarcophagus like a melodramatic vampire.

_Woah, he’s handsome! He has a perfectly big nose like the Prince, but his face is much bigger than the Prince’s. Actually, he’s bigger than the Prince in every way. He’s as tall as his sarcophagus is long. He’s ripped with muscles, even if they are hidden by his trench coat-like robes. And he has hair long enough for him to tie it back; I think I can even it swishing around the sides of his back. Huh, I didn’t think there was a breeze in here._ Hux sees the Sith Spirit smirk at him, making Hux turn redder when he realized that he was projecting his thoughts quite loudly.

[I am Exar Kun, the Sith Lord of Yavin IV.] _Oh. My. Force. Kyle MacLachlan is a Sith Lord!_ Hux immediately covers his mouth with his hands, silencing the squeal that would’ve left his lips. He remembers his stiff upper lip training from the Academy and calms himself.

[I am Armitage Hux of the Unknown Regions.] _I sincerely doubt he was born on this planet, so he just chose a planet that means something to him._ Hux would not be surprised, considering how the Sith Lord has a temple here. The Sith Lord’s red-tinged, silver eyes go to where the Prince is lying.

[And he’s Prince Amidala. He’s……….unconscious.] _Was that your doing?_ Hux nearly adds, but decides to keep his suspicions to himself. He hopes that he didn’t broadcast that last thought. It’s been a while since he actually had to hide his thoughts from a Force-user.

[Yes…..yes, he is. He’ll wake soon. He’s descended from fighters after all.] Hux nods in agreement. He knows all about lineages; he’s descended from a long-line of bastards and will, probably, continue the family tradition.

[So……….are you going to train the Prince into being a Sith Lord? He seems kind of young for that.] _I think it was the Book of Sith that explicitly stated to train Sith Apprentices when they’re full-grown because by then their lives have been harsh and unforgiving. I think the average age is like late teens, but Darth Zannah was like ten when Bane decided to train her. Then again, the Line of Bane has never been ones to follow tradition._ He sees Kun’s ghostly face momentarily crunch up like he’s confused, but then it returns to his Sabacc face.

[I will train him…..and you.] Hux’s purple eyes widen in surprise.

[I am not a Force-user. I cannot be trained.] He feels nauseous now because the last person who tried to train him in the Force was— _Don’t think about her! She’s dead. She’s dead. She’s dead. You’re okay._ But he’ll never be completely fine because of her.

[I sense your…..reluctance. I can assure you that I won’t beat or starve the both of you. Pain is a teacher, but not the best one.] And Hux can almost believe him. But that was mostly because the Dune Messiah’s voice is coming from him. _I wonder if he’s using the Force to alter his voice to sound like someone I would actually trust. He’s a ghost and I’ve seen plenty of ghosts change their appearances on a whim._

[Sounds like something a Jedi would say.] He expects the Sith Spirit to be offended or even give him a Force-shove for such insolence. Exar Kun’s smirk turns wolfish.

[The Sith came from them. You can’t have darkness without light.] _“The Jedi and the Sith will always be at war. They are each wholly uncompromising; their rigid philosophies make no room for mutual existence. But they fail to realize is that they are merely two sides of the same coin: light and dark. You cannot have one without the other.”_ Hux recalls that quote from one of the last diary entries that Princess Sera of Doan made.

[So are you a Grey Sith?] Hux cringes as _grey_ leaves his mouth. He has always hated _grey_ because it seems demeaning, like being not wholly an absolute in the Force means you’re a lesser being. _And I wish there was a better term for Force-users that wield both the Light and Dark. Paladins? No, that’s usually associated with the Lightest warriors. Witches? I believe that’s trademarked by the Dathomirians and the Hapes Royal family. Monks of Bendu? I don’t think the Bendu wants to deal with more Force annoyances…._

[I was a Jedi and then became a Dark Lord. I’ve spent millennia ruminating on Jedi and Sith, on Dark and Light. And I came to the conclusion that it would be quite foolish to lean so heavily on one side when you can use both.] _That is somehow an obvious conclusion and a profound realization. His Agent Coop is showing!_ Once again, Hux has to remind himself of his stiff upper lip training again and not spaz out.

[And the Prince is strong in the Light and the Dark Side of the Force, so, of course, you’d want to teach him. But why me? A rock has more Force-sensitivity than me.] _Then again, every Sith Lord needs a legion of followers at his beck and call. I really don’t want to be his slave, even if he has the hottest voice in the galaxy. I don’t even want to be the Prince’s slave either; I just want to be his friend._ Hux is now scowling, trying to hide his worry.

[Oh, but you have—] The Sith Spirit is cut-off by a low groan coming from the Prince. Hux rushes to the Prince’s side and sees the Prince finally stirring back to consciousness.

“Prince, you’re—your eyes! They’re orange!” They’re actually yellow, molten gold, but the red light has rendered the Prince’s eyes orange, while Hux’s eyes are brown like the Prince’s eyes used to be.

“Mmmmmmm, I……I hunger. I………hunger.” Those orange eyes flit up to Hux’s thin, soft throat. And before Hux can even blink, he is tackled to the ground with the Prince’s teeth on his throat.

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- No links this time. 
> 
> Woo, it’s been like a month since I last wrote anything. That’s because I had university finals, papers, and projects to worry about. But I’m free this summer and I’ll hopefully get around to writing more. Might even continue a certain Chaotic story that I’ve been meaning to get to. 
> 
> Also, next chapter: Hux has to deal with the Dead-Star Dragon!Ben, Dead-Star Dragon!Ben is trying to figure out what he should do with Hux, and Exar Kun teaches his disciples something.


	4. The Dead-Star Dragon

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux must deal with this new “primal” side of the Prince, while trying not to crush on Exar Kun. Meanwhile, the dead-star dragon is trying to figure out what he should do with Hux.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Three

***

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Infant Kiss by Kate Bush

***

            Hux does not scream when the Prince decides to go for his throat; he’s too stunned that the well-mannered royal would be doing this. He feels tiny, perfect teeth clamp down on his scrawny throat. He should feel frighten at his friend suddenly wanting to rip out his throat if not for one tiny thing….

“Uh, Prince, why are you sucking on my neck?” _Wow, I didn’t think I would utter those words until my thirties. And certainly not with the Prince. By then, he’ll be married to some gentle-hearted princess._ Hux shivers when he feels the Prince’s saliva run down his neck.

“Grrr!” The Prince growls at his throat and continue his ferocious sucking. The Sith Spirit of Exar Kun floats towards them with a blank expression.

“Lord Kun, did you make the Prince………..primal?” _The Prince is far too refined for this animalistic behavior! Unless, this is some ancient Naboo greeting._ Hux tries to push the Prince off, but it makes the Prince give him a hard nip.

“I gave him his first lesson. The lesson was about him facing the beast inside himself and conquering it. Clearly, that did not happen.” _I thought 25 years with BOB would’ve taught you as much!_ Exar Kun raises a ghostly brow at him.

“………….So the beast won and we’ll never get the Prince back?” The beastly Prince decides to bite on another part of Hux’s small neck, making Hux sigh in annoyance.

“Oh, I wouldn’t claim that. You can’t really kill your self. He’ll come back. We’ll just have to wait.” _Hopefully, not 26 years, Coop!_ Exar Kun snorts at that.

“You say that the beast has taken over. He’s not going to piss on me, is he?” _Force, I hope the beast in him isn’t a garral!_ The beastly Prince growls once more.

“No, no, he’s more of a dragon. Dragons love necking.” _So he’s giving me HICKIES!?_ Hux wishes he could have room to freak out right now, but the dragon-prince is pretty strong. And quite heavy.

“Hungry!” The Prince roars into Hux’s throat.

“And by necking, I mean dragons like to eat the throats of their victims.” Hux rolls his watery blue eyes.

“I doubt my throat will sate this dragon’s hunger….” The dragon-prince stops his necking and looks at Hux with his golden eyes. Exar Kun leers at them.

“I believe it’s time to start your first lesson: how to feed a dragon!”

*

The dead-star dragon did not expect to wake up as a human. Well, he didn’t know he was even human until he failed to tear out the other human’s throat. He continued to try nonetheless as the other human and the Sith Spirit talked, but eventually the Sith Spirit finally said something worthy of his attention. The Sith Spirit was going to teach the other human how to feed a dragon.

_I can’t read this human’s mind!!!! I know that this Skywalker spawn has the Force, so why can’t I read the human’s mind!? He is no Force-user! But I can smell……something familiar from his left arm. What is this human?_ He decides to get off the human. He wants to be fed and he wants to see if the human can feed him. _He clearly cannot feed himself. Perhaps, he can hunt for me._

Yet, he knows that the human will fail even that small task.

“There are Stinger lizards in the halls; these Stinger lizards have adapted themselves to the darkness and their coloring reflects their evolution. You cannot rely on your sight to catch them.” He hears the Sith Lord instruct the human. _And he can’t rely on the Force, but I can. I can sense at least thirty of those Stinger lizards scurrying about right outside the room._

“Which means I can only rely on my hearing and patience to catch them!” The human answers energetically like he’s been presented a treasure chest. His enthusiasm annoys the dead-star dragon to no end.

“Correct, now go and catch your dinner.” The Sith Spirit commands, and the human gives him a big smile and runs out into the hallway. The dead-star dragon levels a glare at the Sith Spirit.

“You should follow him. You might actually learn something from him.” The Sith Spirit condescends. The dead-star dragon continues to glare at him for the next minute, but then decides to follow the human.

_I will figure out if this human can do anything for me._

*

Hux is back in the pitch-black halls of the temple, but this time he is armed with his first lesson from Lord Exar Kun. And the memory of the Sith Spirit’s approval does lift up his spirits in these gloomy halls.

He plops right down in the middle of a hallway and closes his eyes. _Okay, it’s been a while since I’ve hunted blind, but I can do this! And—_ he hears the dragon-prince walking towards him. _I’m doing this for the Prince!_

He focuses on small noises, little scratches against the stone, and blocks out the other sounds. _Lord Exar Kun is right; I can hear like maybe twenty lizards scurrying around my area. I just need to remain still and wait for one to come within striking distance._

He only has to wait for twenty minutes of utter stillness before he finally has a lizard within his range. Like lightning, his left arm shoots out to grab it, but he pulls back and curses when he touches its tail.

“KRIFF! THAT STINGS!!!” He now understands where the lizard get its name.

“Grr!” The dragon-prince growls. Hux wants to take the growl as the dragon-prince being protective of him. He really does.

“Be patient! I’ll get your dinner!” Hux chastises the impatient beast. The dragon-prince gives him a low growl like he doesn’t like being talked back to.

“Yeah, yeah, do, not try!” Hux returns to his stillness and focuses on the little lizards around him, while ignoring the human-lizard right next to him.

It takes another twenty minutes for another lizard to draw near him. This time he lays out his hand and waits for the lizard to scamper into his hand. He feels the lizard’s little claws lightly dig into his palm.

_I’ve got you!_ He immediately closes his palm, but is once again meets the sting of the lizard’s mighty tail. This time, he does not shout.

“Pfaaaaaaaaask!” He grits out through clenched teeth. The lizard left its stinging mark across his white palm.

“Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!” The lizard-prince matches the cursing with his growl. Hux glares at him while nursing his stinging palm. _Force, it’s like Den wrapping my knuckles with the back of his knife again! And I have to deal with this temperamental beast that does nothing but growl at me!_

“If you’re so hungry, then why don’t you do something about it?” _I’m the one trying to get us dinner!_ Hux projects this intentionally to the dragon-prince. Those glowing yellow eyes narrow at him.

“Stand back.” The dragon-prince orders him, and Hux, completely surprised by the words, stands back.

The dragon-prince takes one step forward.

He takes a deep, deep breath.

And then he opens his mouth to breathe fire and roasts the lizards.

*

_Does this mean I failed the lesson? Because I didn’t kill a single lizard._ Hux wonders as he’s carrying an armful of burnt lizard corpses back to Exar Kun’s tomb. He glances back at the dragon-prince who has half of a burnt lizard in his mouth.

“You do realize that lizards have bones? So it’ll hurt coming out.” Hux warns him. The dragon-prince grunts and then proceeds to eat the lizard, bones and all. Hux sighs.

They make it back to the tomb where Exar Kun is floating exactly where he was almost an hour ago. _Did he just “float” there this entire time? Then again, what else is there to do?_ Hux knows that Force Ghosts/Sith Spirits can’t conjure up books to read; a Sith Lady told him so.

“We’ve brought dinner!” Hux cheerily announces. The lizard-prince looks at Exar Kun momentarily and then snatches a lizard from Hux’s arms. He bites off its head while looking at Hux.

“I see you’ve successfully completed your lesson.” Exar Kun says warmly without a hint of sarcasm. Hux scrunches up his face in confusion.

“But I didn’t kill any lizards. I failed after two tries, and then,” Hux looks at the dragon-prince, “the Prince roasted them all.”

“Yes, but I never said that you couldn’t use him. You aggravated him just enough for him to actually do what you ask.” Hux’s pink face flushes a deeper red in the red-lit room. The dragon-prince rolls his golden eyes.

“Yeah………it wasn’t intentional.” Hux admits. Exar Kun just flashes him a crimson smile that makes Hux’s heart skip a beat.

“But you weren’t roasted alive, and you have your dinner. I say you succeeded.” Hux sheepishly grins. _Aw, he’s so nice…….with a hot voice and not growling at me!_ The dragon-prince growls at him, which causes Hux to roll his watery blue eyes at him.

“Oh, shut up and eat!”

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- No links this time. 
> 
> Wow, that took a while to update. I’m hoping to update again by the end of the month. Anyways, I had so much fun writing an annoyed, young Hux and dead-star-dragon-possessed Ben Solo/Amidala/The Prince; the next chapter will probably be more “bonding” between them with Exar Kun being his Cooper-dreamy self! 
> 
> Poor Hux, having the hots for teacher.


	5. The Rainbow Connection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux and the dragon-prince take a bath.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Four

****

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- A Drop Filled with Memories by Susumu Hirasawa

****

            The dragon-prince eats the lion’s share of the cooked lizards, while Armitage only gets to eat ten. He is still hungry, but he figures some water, most likely boiled, will satisfy his stomach. The dragon-prince is tearing into a particularly chewy piece of the last cooked lizard. Hux almost rolls his eyes at his typical bestial behavior.

_Who would’ve thought that the Prince had a beast locked inside him? Maybe he’ll be a little less beasty with a full stomach._ Hux sighs and will settle for the dragon-prince growling at him a little less.

“Lord Kun, do you have any water in here?” _Hopefully sterile, but I doubt that._

“Since it was my hope to train some students, I had enough foresight to install a bathing room along with a water storage room.” Hux nearly breathes a sigh of relief. _While water cannot expire, if it is in a plastic container, then the container itself can expire and release chemicals that contaminant the water._

“Don’t worry I used the Force to keep the stored water pure. I knew it was going to be….centuries before you two would turn up at my temple.” _You can use the Force for that? Seems more like magic than the Force. Actually, there are such things as Sith spells and Sith amulets that are pretty much like magically curse objects. Is the Dark Side actually magical? Nah, Palpatine would be back by now if that was the case!_ Exar Kun gives him a small, cryptic smirk.

“Great, so where exactly is the stored water room?” Exar Kun motions to the westward wall and it lifts up to reveal another dark hallway. _I understand that light is Light, but a torch wouldn’t kill the Dark!_ Hux looks unimpressed, while Exar Kun continues to smirk.

“It’s about a twenty minute walk straight down this hall and ten minutes further down is the bath room. There should be some buckets and glass jugs in the storage room, so you won’t have to constantly make a trek down there.” Hux brightens up at that.

“You should also take a bath while you’re down there; you have been roaming these hallways for hours now.” The dragon-prince growls loudly, which causes Hux to look and see the scowl on the little beast’s face. Along with the blacken flecks of the recently consumed lizards rimming his big mouth.

“He could also use a bath.” _Because dragons and water go so well together! Well, there are sea-dragons, so maybe he’ll like the water?_ Hux wants to hope, but the dragon-prince has a tendency of dashing them.

“So, Prince, ready for a bath after we drink half a gallon of water and fill up some jugs?” Hux asks as enthusiastically as possible; he even adds a huge smile at the end. The dragon-prince grunts and crosses his arms.

“Don’t get your clothes wet; I have nothing in your sizes.” Exar Kun jokes. _Or at least, I hope he’s joking. Then again, my cabin boy training has prepared me to wear the same clothes for a month._

“Grr!”

*

The water storage room is nothing really special to Hux; it reminds him of a more ancient version of the water storage room back at the academy. Instead of plastic tankards, there are hundreds of barrels. He grabs a wooden bucket and pulls the lid off a barrel to scoop up fresh water. He then drinks from the bucket and squeals in delight. He passes the bucket to the dragon-prince who drinks it silently and gives him a confused look like he expected the water to be something else.

“Nice, cold, refreshing water! Now, get those two buckets behind you and we’ll fill them, and then come back for them after our bath.” The dragon-prince surprisingly doesn’t glare and does what he is told. _Okay, so cold water makes him calm? Each bucket holds about a gallon of water, so there should be more than enough between him and me as long as it doesn’t get hot in the tomb room._ They fill three buckets and leave them by the room’s entrance and then walk for another ten minutes to reach the bath room.

Hux expects the room to be lavishly built like bathhouses of ancient times where there were three baths just for hot, cold, and warm water. The floor, pillars, and benches would be carved from the finest marble with creepy Sith statues strewn about.

_The water storage room is bigger than this._ Hux is disappointed by how small the bath actually it is. Granted, it’s bigger than the Academy’s pool, but it is plain. Utterly Jedi.

_Perhaps, he just wanted to prepare us for times without luxury; the Sith are known for being pretty strict about luxuries. At least during the Apprenticeship. Or, he ran out of building materials because this room and the last room are pretty barren._ Sith Lords are also known for going over-budget. _But both rooms have lighting sources that come from giant glowing crystals in the center of their rooms, so there was enough budget for those._

“How do I turn on the bath?” Hux does not see a faucet attached to the bath or anything else in the room but walls. In half a minute, the wall most north of the entryway opens and Hux walks over there. He can see four closeted bathroom stalls that make up half of the north wall, reminding him of an ancient version of public restrooms, and sinks with mirrors that make up the other half.

_Even more crystal-lights in here, and he couldn’t put any of these out in the hallways? Oh, and now I’ve found the switch!_ Hux didn’t exactly find a switch on the opposite wall, but an open cabinet dedicated to the operation of the bath. There is a lever, just like shower levers, that can go from left to right. Hux decides to pull it to the middle, believing that it would give him warm water. He hears jangling from the pipes in the walls and gets out to see the pool filling with water. The dragon-prince is watching the water with trepidation.

“And it’s filled! Wow, that took less than a minute, so……do you remember how to take off your clothes?” He asks the dragon-prince. The dragon-prince looks pointedly at him and then down at his attire and then back at him. Hux sighs and goes over to help him.

“Lift your right leg up.” The dragon-prince does and Hux pulls off his boot. “Now, the left.”

And Hux proceeds to instruct the dragon-prince until he has removed every article of clothing that he folds into a pile. Hux then takes off his own clothes and folds them too as the dragon-prince watches him.

“………You’re smaller than me.” And Hux is not quite sure to which part of him that the dragon-prince is referring to, but he refuses to ask.

“I’ll get in first and help you in, since I doubt you know how to swim.” The dragon-prince just grunts in response. Hux thinks about cannonballing into the bath, but he doesn’t want to soak their clothes. So he takes the quieter, duller, way of just seating himself at the edge of the bath’s ledge and lowering himself into the bath.

_This feels more like………body wash, but I see no bubbles, yet they make my skin look slicker._ Hux rubs on his right arm and sees bubbles forming. _So is this another Sith spell? Turning water into a new kind of body wash? It smells like…trees, the dirt and the sap of one. I like it._

“Trillium.” The dragon-prince ejaculates, but then his golden eyes widen like he cannot believe he just said that.

“I don’t know what that is, but it’s time for you to get in too.” He offers the dragon-prince his hand. The dragon-prince looks with trepidation at his hand like he expects another unpleasant surprise, but takes it. He does not take Hux’s cautious approach and chooses to _step over_ the ledge and drop into the water. Luckily, the splash isn’t big enough to reach their clothes.

“Loosen your death grip, please!” Hux then wheezes when the dragon-prince claws his way back to the surface, after being only underwater for two seconds, and wraps around him like he’s a scared child.

_Just because the Prince’s inner beast is dragon doesn’t eliminate the fact that he is a child._ Hux’s scarred arm is still anchored to the ledge, so he’s able to pull himself and the prince to the stone wall.

“We aren’t even a meter from the ledge, so grab it now like I am.” It takes a minute before the dragon-prince unwinds one arm from Hux’s thin neck and latches onto the ledge. Slowly, he un-twists the rest of himself from Hux’s and re-attaches to the ledge and the stone wall.

“I’ll wash your hair and back.” _But you’re on your own for the rest._ Hux projects to him and sees the dragon-prince’s knuckles turn whiter. Hux lets go of the ledge and swims behind the dragon-prince; he stands on the arches of his feet, so he doesn’t need to use his arms to keep him afloat. He scoops up some of the bath water with his mismatched hands and slowly drizzles the dragon-prince’s black hair. He then bury his spidery fingers into the mollified locks; he works to bring out the bubbles with rainbow reflections

_“…Little transparent balls of rainbows. You want to roll them between your fingers like crystals, but they pop as soon as you touch them. Sometimes, if you are gentle and patient, then you will have one. But only for a time."_ His father murmured into his ears when he was too sick to bathe himself. His father’s spidery, scarred fingers would comb through his hair and make more bubbles appear. Hux remembers trying to catch them with his short, weak fingers, but they would always pop.

By First Order standards, his initial frailty would qualify as gentleness, a weakness. So he was gentle, but he lacked patience like all children do.

_Like I’m still doing now._ Hux thinks guiltily. _I haven’t exactly been patient with this…new side of the Prince. He’s acting like a colt ready to bolt._

He sees the Prince hunch his tense shoulders like a terrified cat believing that he would hurt her. But how can he ever hurt his Mill—

**_DON’T THINK ABOUT HER!_ **

The dragon-prince’s slightly relaxes his grip on the ledge. For a moment, Hux expects him to ask.

“Don’t forget my back.” The dragon-prince murmurs.

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- No links this time. 
> 
> I’ve been dying to do the bath scene since the last chapter because I was going to have it be a huge dialogue scene, but then I started thinking. The dragon-prince at best says a couple of words or grunts at Armitage; he suddenly holding conversations with Hux would be too jarring for his character. And Hux has………some unresolved issues with Millicent the Fandom Cat. 
> 
> Anyways, the next chapter will either be a Force Ghost chapter or a Luke one. Or both.


	6. The Ghost

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin tries to clear up a misunderstanding with Ahsoka, while Luke ponders about Ben.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Five

*****

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Safety Dance by Men Without Hats

*****

            “AHSOKA!” Anakin shouts as he runs through the hallways in the Force Afterlife. He speeds past hundreds of white doors that he knows Ahsoka isn’t in. He’s been doing this for what felt like hours.

“AHSOKA!!” Anakin screams into the Library. An army of Archivists, which includes a very furious Jocasta Nu, respond back.

“SHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Anakin groans and leaves. Ahsoka isn’t in the hallways. She isn’t in the Library. She isn’t in her room. Anakin doesn’t know where else to look.

“AHHHHHHHHHSOOOOOOOOOOKKKKKKKKKKAAAAAAAA!!!” He lets out one last, frustrated scream.

And the Force answers him.

With a door slamming into his face.

“Your ex-padawan is with Qui-Gon’s second favorite padawan.” Xanatos appears from the other side of the door. He leers overs Anakin clutches his nose in pain.

“But Ahsoka isn’t in my room!” Xanatos rolls his sapphire orbs.

“And I’m the egotistical one in the Line. No, pfassk-up, she’s with Obi-Wan. Who do you think is Qui-Gon’s first favorite padawan?”

“Uh, Obi-Wan? He’s only had like three apprentices.”

“Four, Force-mistake. And I’m his favorite. I would’ve said Feemor, but Qui-Gon practically forgot about him after I left.” Xanatos then shuts his door.  

Anakin makes a rude gesture with his prosthetic hand and then hightails it to Obi-Wan’s.

*

Luke Skywalker is meditating by his sleeping pallet.

Three times a day, he meditates by himself behind his latched door.

First, in the morning when his Initiates are waking up.

Second, during the lull between lunch and his afternoon classes.

Finally, at night when his Initiates are sleeping.

Unlike his morning and noon meditations, his nighttime meditations are not about centering himself. It’s about examining the Shatterpoints.

From the private journals of Mace Windu when he was on Haruun Kal, Luke has learned about Shatterpoints:

_“I could feel that without him to maintain its weave, to repair its flaws and double its thinning strands, the web would rot, would shrivel and decay until a mere breath would shred it and scatter its strings into the infinite stellar winds._

_Dooku was the shatterpoint._

_I knew it._

_That is my gift._

_Imagine a Corusca gem: a mineral whose interlocking crystalline structure makes it harder than durasteel. You can strike one with a five-kilo hammer and do no more than dent the hammer’s face. Yet the same crystalline structure that gives the Corusca strength also gives it shatterpoints: spots where a precise application of carefully measured force—no more than a gentle tap—will break into pieces. But to find these shatterpoints, to use them to shape the Corusca gem into beauty and utility, requires years of study, an intimate understanding of crystal structure, and rigorous practice to train the hand in the perfect combination of strength and precision to produce the desired cut._

_Unless you have a talent like mine._

_I can see shatterpoints._

_The sense is not sight, but **see** is the closes word Basic has for it: it is a perception, a **feel** of how what I look upon fits into the Force, and how the Force binds it to itself and to everything else. . . The Force shows me strengths and weaknesses, hidden flaws and unexpected uses. It shows me vectors of stress that squeeze or stretch, torque or shear; it shows me how patterns of these vectors to form the matrix of reality. . . _

_Situations have shatterpoints, like gems. But those of situations are fluid, ephemeral, appearing for a bare instant, vanishing again to leave no trace of their existence. They are always a function of timing._

_There is no such thing as a second chance.”_

From what he has learned, he knows that people filled with so many fault lines in the Force are Shatterpoints and need to be dealt with _carefully_. Because if Luke puts too much pressure on a Shatterpoint, then it will shatter and create a whole slew of possible horrible futures.

All of his Initiates have faults in their Force signatures. Tahiri, Cilghal, Tekli, and Tionne have the fewest faults and their faults can be best described as teensy-weensy blemishes. Saba, Corran, and Kenth have larger faults, but he wouldn’t label them as Shatterpoints since they do willingly come to him for help with their issues and that eases their faults.

But Ben is nothing but a Shatterpoint.

When Leia first brought Ben to Yavin, Luke was horrified. No part of Ben, in the Force, was stable; he was riddled with faults oozing Darkness and Light. He was strong with the Force, but he was also one massive Shatterpoint.

Just like his grandfather.

He didn’t want to take Ben on as a student. He didn’t even want to let him into the Praxeum. And Ben most certainly didn’t want to set a shimmersilk-slipper-ed-foot on Yavin.

But Luke has always valued family, and Leia knew that.

_“Luke, I need your help. Ben cannot control his powers anymore. He nearly broke Poe’s neck when he made fun of Ben wearing a dress. Even though he was clearly wearing robes. He needs to learn control and discipline when it comes to the Force, which I have little experience in. Luke, don’t let him become another…Vader.”_

And his reluctance became determination, he tries very hard to get Ben to become the Jedi he needs to be. To be in control of the Force and his emotions.

Unfortunately, Ben has inherited the worst trait of his parents: stubbornness.

Ben resists his teachings every step of the way. He refuses to meditate, refuses to give up his _hobbies_ , and refuses to interact with his fellow Initiates. Although, the last part is mostly due to the fact that most of his students are wary of Ben. They are used to harmony and serenity here; Ben constantly bleeds his emotions of anger, resentment, and frustration, which reminds some of them of their harsher upbringings before the Praxeum.

However, they did approve of him when he had kitchen duties, which is often.

Reaching Ben is proving to be as difficult as redeeming his father.

*

Anakin has only been in Obi-Wan’s room once and at a very, very wrong time.

But since Ahsoka is with Obi-Wan that means Obi-Wan was on a break and there won’t be a pile of very familiar, naked people in his bed.

 _And I still cannot look at a teapot without blushing!_ Anakin makes it to Obi-Wan’s room and he’s about to pound on it when the door opens.

“I AM NOT A PEDOPHILE!!!” He blurts out. He hears a cough from behind him and sees Jax Pavan and Laranth Tarak. The couple walk back to their room and quietly shut the door.

“Anakin, why don’t you come in?” Obi-Wan has his Negotiator smile on. _I should really learn to just keep silent._ Anakin comes inside and sees Ahsoka kneeling on a white cushion by the table. He could smell the medicinal scent of Sapir tea in the air.

He takes a sea-green seat at the front of the table, while Obi-Wan takes the sky-blue cushion on the other side of him. He is flanked by two of the people he trusted the most in the Temple.

“Ahsoka, I swear to you that I am not a—” Ahsoka has a small smile and shakes her head; he’s reminded of all those times when Ahsoka would doubt him but really did believe in his crazy plans during the Clone Wars.

“Master, don’t worry, we figured out why you were…….watching that.” _We? Oh, that’s right, Obi-Wan knows._ He looks at Obi-Wan who gives a slight nod of affirmation.

“Master informed me of your _holo night_. The boy you were watching is important to your grandson. Enough for him to mind-control a Battle Hydra.” Obi-Wan’s eyes crinkle with disappointment and concern.

“So you were watching over him, to make sure he was safe. Are we right, Skyguy?” Anakin stares at the both of them; both of them aren’t looking at him with disgust. They are looking warmly at him. Like they were back in the Temple.

“Yeah….Armitage never eats enough, and I was afraid that he was going to pass out in the showers and crack his skull. He’s far skinnier than you were during the Clone Wars, Master.” He’s finally able to joke, absolutely relieved that his former Master and former Padawan know him. Know him far better than he ever did of himself when he was Vader.

*

During his morning meditation, Luke senses nervousness in the Force right outside of his door. He goes over to the door and opens it before his student has a chance to knock. He sees the messy blonde head and bare feet of Tahiri Veila.

“Yes, Tahiri?” Her green eyes are looking down and she’s clenching at her orange pajama bottoms.

“Um, It’s just….Well, Master, Ben didn’t come back last night. His sleeping pallet has been untouched and he isn’t in the kitchens making breakfast…” Ben frequently suffers from nightmares as everyone in the Praxeum can attest to that. Ben would take midnight strolls to find peace, or at least he tries to.

_Do, not try._

“A-And he really wasn’t here after lunch. He kind of just left, and I saw him leave and thought he was just ditching afternoon classes again and he would come back, but he didn’t. I’m……worried.” Tahiri still hasn’t looked at him. Clearly ridden with guilt that she may have indirectly harmed her fellow Initiate for not saying anything earlier. Or stopping him. _It’s not like she could’ve stopped him; Ben would’ve given her a Force-push and keep on moving._

“Do not worry yourself. I’ll go look for him; he’s probably just at the lake again.” He tries to reassure her; she looks up at him with doubt in her vibrant eyes. Doubt that reminds him of **_her_**.

“But, Master, if you look really closely in the Force, you’ll see that his Force signature is barely there. Like he’s a _ghost._ ”

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- Here is the link: 
> 
> This is an image of Tahiri Veila. In Legends, she was raised by Tusken Raiders and hailed from Tatooine. And when she got to the grassy jungles of Yavin, she went barefoot and Luke let her be barefooted. That’s all you really need to know about her for this series: [Link](https://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/d/da/Tahiri_veila.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/150?cb=20061124144006)
> 
> Also, the journal entry is directly lifted from Matthew Strover’s Shatterpoint novel which is about Mace Windu pretty much going through Heart of Darkness as he tries to rescue his former and only padawan, Depa Billaba. This all takes place in Legends/Expanded Universe. And the only thing that New Canon lifted from that was the Shatterpoint ability, which was incorporated in Clone Wars, and Depa Billaba, except she doesn’t lose her mind and gets to be master to Caleb Dume who becomes Kanan Jarrrus aka Ezra Bridger’s blind/reluctant master in Rebels. 
> 
> In Legends, Luke Skywalker has Shatterpoint, which is supposed to be a super-rare Force-ability as Mace Windu states multiple times even though (allegedly) Obi-Wan has it, Darth Krayt has it, Darth Traya has it, Cade Skywalker has it, Jaina Solo has it, and some others have it, along with a slew of other nearly OP abilities that reinforces him as the definitive Chosen One. And, again, I love playing with Legends way, way, way more than New Canon. 
> 
> Jax Pavan and Laranth Tarak are from Legends and were one of the survivors of the Jedi Purge and were part of Whiplash which was like the Underground Railroad in the sense that they helped Jedi and other enemies of the Empire get out of the Empire. Laranth was actually part of the Gray Paladins which are almost Gray Jedi except they prefer to use weapons over the Force. And if the last name Pavan is familiar to any of you, he had a father named Lorn Pavan who was one of the main characters in Michael Reeve’s Darth Maul: Shadow Hunter and let’s just say like father like son. I also feel like Jax and Laranth may have partially inspired Kanan and Hera in Rebels. 
> 
> Damn, this chapter goes from Anakin being stupid to something………not that. This is my first time ever writing Luke as an actual character instead of just a mention or a catalyst. I think I didn’t do too badly and I incorporated some possible feelings I think he had regarding Ben. I’d like to believe that he didn’t want to train Ben because he was too much like his grandfather and was worried that he would screw him up like Obi-Wan (even though, it was mostly Palpatine, slavery, the Jedi Council [aka Mace and Yoda], and partially Padmé) did with Anakin and get another Vader. And I feel like Leia had to convince him to take Ben on because of that fear. Almost similar to what Qui-Gon made Obi-Wan promise, except Leia isn’t an utter ass to him. Without considering Ben’s feelings in the matter, which is kind of what happens to Anakin since I don’t recall him ever wanting to be a Jedi except it would get him out of slavery and his mother wanted him to be a Jedi. 
> 
> So the cycle repeats itself in the New Canon as evident in the movie, except….it’s not going to happen in this series.
> 
> Next time: The Dead-Star Dragon talks some more, Hux learns how to meditate Sith-style, and Exar Kun senses something off in the Force.


	7. The Spirit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux serenades the Dead-Star Dragon, while Exar Kun reflect upon his disciples.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe. 
> 
> Yes, jizz music is an actual thing in Star Wars and it is pretty much jazz or swing music. It’s in the Wookie. Also, I really need to reel in my love for Twin Peaks and, no, I have not seen the new season because I don’t have ShowTime, so no spoilers!

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Six

******

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Johanna from Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (1982)

******

            Hux expects to wake up to jizz music and to the smell of the Prince cooking up some damn fine coffee.

_SLAM!!_

He jolts up like the Great Dragon was roaring in his ears again. He sees a bucket of burnt lizards by his head.

“What the…..Prince?” He sees the dragon-prince with another bucket of charred lizards in his right hand and the other with the water bucket.

“I made breakfast.” Armitage looks around for Exar Kun, expecting an explanation on how he got the dragon-prince to be……princely. But he doesn’t see the Sith Spirit or hear his sexy voice.

“Why?” The dragon-prince looks at him hard like he’s trying to figure out if Armitage is asking a trick question. Or was being stupid.

“Because I won’t let you die.” Now, it’s Armitage’s turn to stare at the dragon-prince like he said something stupid.

“I’m not dying. I’m just thin.” He’s always been skinnier than most of the children at the Academy. It’s not because he constantly skips meals or has a high metabolism. It’s genetics. _You’ve got your father’s build. Thin enough to make people believe you’re dying of some wasting sickness._ The Commandant looked sadly at him.

 _The Commandant always got sad when he saw father in me. Which was often._ And Hux would always feel his soul ache whenever the Commandant got sad. Which was often.

“I expect you to eat your breakfast.” _Or else._ Hux rolls his eyes, but he reaches into the bucket and bites a cooked lizard’s head off.

*

The Dead-Star Dragon should not dream. When he was himself, he never had dreams. He had periods of rest, but they were never long enough to attract _dreams_. Skywalkers had dreams, and he burns the hearts of those dreamers. Except he ate this dreamer and was now trapped in his body and in his dreams.

This Skywalker was only capable of dreaming about Ashla and Bogan.

They like to drown and burn him at once. They like to pull him apart and sew him back together, midi-chlorian by midi-chlorian.

They are bored Creators of the Universe and revel in tormenting him.

He woke up at least five times throughout the night, sweating buckets. His sleeping pallet and his coarse, homespun clothing reek of his _fear_.

He snarls and claws at his human wrists; the pain keeps the human’s fear at bay. For now.

He looks at Hux’s sleeping face; there’s some dry drool coating the sides of his mouth and his pillow. His nose wrinkles at the stench coming from Hux’s sleeping breath.

 _So thin, so thin, so thin, so thin._ He hears his mind thinks, but knows these are not his own thoughts. Because why should he care if the boy is starving.

 _So thin, so thin, so thin, so thin._ He grits his teeth.

 _So thin, so thin, so thin, so thin._ He claws at his wrists again to see if it would make those thoughts go away.

 _So thin, so thin, so thin, so thin._ He storms out of the tomb with his bleeding wrists to get food for the starving boy.

If only to shut his mind up.

*

The dragon-prince utterly refuses to take his golden eyes off of Hux during breakfast. He makes sure that Hux ate his breakfast. Every. Agonizing. Bite.

“Urggh.” Hux clutches his stomach, feeling bloated from eating so much burnt lizard in one sitting. _Force, I hope Kun doesn’t make us do anything strenuous this morning. Wait, is it morning? I can’t tell since I’m underground, but maybe the Prince knows since he did declare breakfast._

“Have I pleased you, My Draconian Lord?” Hux impetuously asks.

The dragon-princes gives him a self-satisfied smirk.

“Greatly.” If he had a tail, his would be swaying back in forth smugly.

“Now that you’ve been fed, it is time to start your first lesson of the day.” Hux nearly jumps. _Force, he really needs to announce himself!_ But he knows that won’t happen; Force Ghosts/Sith Spirits enjoy catching the Living off-guard.

“What is this lesson?” The dragon-prince’s golden orbs are now fixed on the Sith Spirit. Exar Kun smirks.

“Meditation.”

*

Exar Kun first has them roll up their pallets and move the buckets into a corner of the room. _I didn’t know meditation required this much space. Don’t we need like a special chamber or sphere since he’s teaching us the Sith way?_

“You are correct that meditation chambers or meditation spheres are employed by the Sith. However, my Temple has neither of those.” The dragon-prince raises a dark eyebrow and frowns.

“For someone who has been planning his own Sith Academy for thousands of years, I would presume that you would’ve planned better.” Hux eyes widen. _Wow, he actually spoke to Kun. Even if he sounds as sarcastic as his grunts. This is an improvement. I think._

“It’s not like it would’ve been any use to either of you.” Kun coolly answers. Hux snorts, while the dragon-prince narrows his eyes at Kun’s sass.

“So what kind of meditation are we doing? Battle?” _Well, it’s the only kind of meditation that the Sith practice. But you do need a sphere or a chamber for that, so maybe there’s another way?_

“No, only one of you can do that,” He looks directly at the dragon-prince before continuing, “Now, can any of you name the variants of meditation?”

Hux raises his hand.

“You are not at the Academy, so there is no need for you to raise your hand.” Hux’s cheeks heat up. _Yeah, and there’s only two of us!_

“There’s three that the Jedi developed: Empty Meditation, Moving, Meditation, and Floating Meditation.” Kun nods his head.

“Correct, but there is two more. Healing meditation, but that is just another name for a healing trance. There is also Arch Pose, but it’s more a stretching exercise than strict meditation.” Then, the dragon-prince raises his right hand.

“There’s heji tal developed by Grand Master Luke Skywalker. The technique requires the meditator to completely surrender to the Force and it’s supposed to establish inner peace, grant knowledge, and bring serenity. All of the Initiates practice it with him, except me. Because... Because….” The dragon-prince drifts off.

 _His uncle wouldn’t even let him meditate with them because he’s not good at it. Then how the Seven Sith Hells is he supposed to get better at it if he’s not allowed to learn? Pfassking asshole!_ Hux dislikes for Skywalker grows.

“Yes, and his technique is based upon Empty Meditation. The only variant he seems to know. But do correct me if I’m wrong, Ben.” The dragon-prince snarls in response.

“So Skywalker only knows one kind of meditation? But he’s a Grand Master, shouldn’t he know all the forms, so he can properly teach his pupils?” Kun gives him a disarming smile that only partially quells his growing indignation.

“Master Skywalker had only maybe six months of being taught by _living_ Jedi Masters in total, so they couldn’t possibly impart a thousand years’ worth of Jedi history onto him in that amount of time. Chosen One or not. So I presume he’s only read about the other meditations, but doesn’t know _how_ they are done.” _If that’s the case, then what about the seven forms of lightsaber combat? Does that mean he knows only Form I, Soresu, Ataru, and maybe Djem So? Then the art of lightsaber combat truly did die with the Jedi like the Commandant said._

“This lesson is about meditation, not Master Skywalker’s ignorance. I am going to be focusing on Moving Meditation since it’s the only meditation accessible to Force-nulls.” His eyes flicker to Hux.

“Moving Meditation is a state of wakefulness and the practitioner can quiet all external distractions consciously by performing an activity involving movement coupled with concentration. It can be like repairing a droid, or performing Alchaka which is the endless repetitions of intense stances that leave the practitioner exhausted, or practicing the meditative martial arts of the Matukai.”

“Being a Sith is to concentrate on one’s passion, so Moving Meditation is the best place to start for the both of you. Now, Armitage, what do you do to help you concentrate and block out the noise of the galaxy?” _There is sword training with the Commandant, but I can’t really block out noise. There’s practicing speeches, but……it just doesn’t arouse any passion in me that is required of a Sith. So I guess that leaves…_

“Well, to block out noise, you’ve got to make your own noise, so I sing.” Kun nods approvingly.

“Do you do anything while you sing?” _Not dance, I can tell you that much._

“Depending on the song, I act out scenes.”

“Then, would you do us the honor of giving us a demonstration.” Hux’s eyes become bright green and his face hurts from smiling so hard.

“Hells yes!”

*

Armitage Hux is incredibly useful in molding Ben Solo. Like a tool, but not a tool. He is far too interesting to be a mere tool. He played an electric guitar and sang the dragon into submission instead of using brute force, or traps, or even a blaster to do so.

When Ben mind-controlled a Battle Hydra just so Armitage can play the hero, he knew that he would need Armitage to lure Ben here. To keep him here.

Especially now with the Dead-Star Dragon in control. He knew that Ben wouldn’t be able to defeat such a beast without proper motivation.

_“I feel you, Johanna,_

_I feel you._

_I was half convinced I'd waken,_

_Satisfied enough to dream you._

_Happily I was mistaken,_

_Johanna!”_

Armitage forms a cage with his hands as he sings; his long, spidery fingers make for excellent bars. He brings the cage over to the Dead-Star Dragon who looks at him with confusion in those golden eyes.

_“I'll steal you, Johanna,_

_I'll steal you.”_

The Dead-Star Dragon’s big mouth twitches into a gasp. Ben has regain some control.

_“I'll steal you, Johanna,_

_I'll steal you.”_

The sincerity in Armitage’s green eyes glows as bright as a lightsaber. It momentarily blinds the Dragon.

_“I'll steal you, Johanna,_

_I'll steal you.”_

The possessiveness that seeps into Armitage’s voice enflames Ben. His hands finally touch the cage that Armitage made.

_“Do they think that walls can hide you?_

_Even now, I'm at your window._

_I am in the dark beside you,_

_Buried sweetly in your yellow hair.”_

Armitage breaks his cage, allowing Ben to hold his hands. Tightly.

_“I feel you, Johanna,_

_And one day I'll steal you._

_‘Till I'm with you then,_

_I'm with you there,_

_Sweetly buried in your yellow hair.”_

The song is over, but Ben refuses to let go of Armitage’s hands. And Armitage does not stop him. They are smiling at one another, the Prince and his Wistie.

That is until Ben’s nails dig into his hands like claws.

The Dead-Star Dragon has returned.

“Ow, ow, ow!” Armitage violently yanks his hands away from the Dead-Star Dragon.

The Dead-Star Dragon growls angrily at him, while Armitage glares back and nurses his hands. Clearly, one song is not enough to defeat this dragon.

_Well……we have time._

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- No links this time. 
> 
> Hey, I wrote another musical number! I’ve always been a sucker for Hux being able to sing and play some kind of instrument. And it works so well on Ben, but it’s going to take time to defeat the dragon in control of him. And maybe more than just music. Like swordplay.
> 
> This chapter and the next two are going to cover what Exar Kun is going to teach them. This chapter was about meditation and the next two will cover combat and philosophy. And if I’m being perfectly honest, the combat chapter is going to take a while because I do not know how to choreograph fight scenes well. And then afterwards, I’ll write about the ghosts and Luke, Leia, Han, and Brendol Hux. Force, you have no idea how excited I am to have Brendol interact with Luke, Leia, and Han. 
> 
> Next chapter: Hux finally gets to use his sword, the dragon-prince gets to burn something other than lizards, and Exar Kun reflects upon the future.


	8. The Duel

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A duel between a Wistie and a Dragon ensues, while a Sith Spirit watches.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Seven

*******

            After dressing his wounds which consisted of vigorous handwashing and glaring at the dragon-prince, Hux is now ready for his next lesson.

“Do you require any bandages?” Kun inquires as he walks back into the tomb room.

“No need to waste them on such _little_ marks.” He nearly sneers, while the dragon-prince responds with rolling his golden eyes like _he’s_ the one being the drama queen.

“But can you hold a sword with them?” And then he sees his sword, Curse Breaker, in its purple-black scabbard flying towards him like blasterfire.

He catches it with an _oof_ and falls to the ground.

“I keep overestimating the power of the physical form.” Kun shakes his head, while the dragon-prince grunts. Hux scrambles back up.

“So I guess it’s time for combat lessons?” Kun then smirks.

“No, dueling.”

*

The human does not duel. Instead, he puts his oddly-shaped sword on the ground and takes a few steps away from it.

He then bends his right knee forward and stretches out the back of his left leg. He pushes his right knee as far as it can and holds the pose for about thirty seconds.

He does the same but with the left knee and the back of his right leg; he holds the pose for another thirty seconds.

He repeats this pose three times.

He then brings his mismatched hands over his heart like he will pray, but then he stretches his clapped hands back with his arms like an oblong arch.

He goes back to his prayer stand and then stretches down; he can touch the floor. The Dead-Star Dragon feels his breath hitch in his throat.

The human then stretches out onto the floor and only the top half of his body rises. The Dead-Star Dragon can see the human’s dark tunic ride up to reveal his concave belly.

He need only take the human’s sword and thrust it into pale belly to finally be rid of this stranger.

The human then stretches out into an _A_ with his teensy butt in the air and then goes flat on the ground.

He then goes in reverse order of his _exercise_.

The Sith Spirit never once tries to stop the human; he just floats there like the most annoying bloodstain in the galaxy.

“What the fuck are you doing?” The Dead-Star Dragon finally asks when the human is done. The human looks aghast at him.

“Language!” He rolls his golden eyes at the human.

 _“Hux,”_ his treasonous mind whispers, _“Hux, his name is Hux.”_

“Human, answer my question.” He will not concede to the voice; the last time he did…he lost control.

“It’s Hux. But to answer your question, I was stretching before the duel.” The Dead-Star Dragon folds his arms and glares at him with suspicion.

“Why would you need to stretch? I wouldn’t wait around while Skywalker stretches before I burn him.” He sees a dark gleam of pleasure invade the human’s suddenly blue eyes.

“Well, stretching helps me focus before a duel. The Commandant and I always do this before we spar.” The Dead-Star Dragon involuntarily hisses at the mention of the human’s father.

“It’s not going to be much of duel since you’re fighting a ghost.” He then focuses his attention on Exar Kun who smirks cryptically at him.

“Oh, I won’t be the one dueling you, Armitage.” The human scrunches up his face in confusion.

“You’ll be dueling the dragon-prince.”

*

“WHAT!” Both of his disciples shout at the same time but with different tones. Hux is shocked, while the Dead-Star Dragon is enraged.

“Hux, I’m a ghost. You can’t hurt me. Prince, I thought you would enjoy this opportunity to fight the human. Perhaps, you are more _attached_ to the human than you let on.” The Dragon snarls and hisses at him. Kun would’ve rolled his eyes at such an aggressive display when he was thousands of years younger and had a body.

“You two are my only disciples, so only you two can physically spar with each other.” Hux nods his head, while the Dragon shakes his stolen one.

“But aren’t you supposed to teach us basic combat before we spar?” Hux asks. His right arm twitches like he wants to raise his hand, but he resists his Academy training.

“Consider this like an assessment. I need to figure out what I _actually_ need to teach you, so I don’t have to waste your time with something you’ve perfected.” Hux’s freckled cheeks turn pink from his slight praise. _Always starved for paternal affection._ He smiles at him, causing the ginger’s cheeks to turn rose red.

“Prince, consider this an opportunity for your freedom. I’ll let you go to the surface and hunt for however long as you want if you can defeat Hux.” A feral grin spreads across the dragon’s plush lips. His golden eyes brighten with confidence.

“When do we begin?” The Dragon eyes Hux like a Sith hound ready to pounce on a Jedi padawan. Hux is not fazed by the Dragon’s open bloodlust; he scoffs at him. _A Sith’ari he could’ve been if he had the Force._

“Now.” And no sooner did the word leave his mouth that his disciples act. The Dragon lets out a roar of fire at Hux, while Hux snatches his sword and tumbles out of the way of the flames.

The dragon continues to breathe fire at Hux, completely confident that he’ll defeat the human with just might. _He’s only had a failed Chosen One to fight or his woefully untrained grandson. He’s never had to be clever._

Hux tucks and rolls away from the flames once again. There’s not a drop of fear in him like he’s been through this once and knows what to do.

The Dragon breathes fire once again expecting Hux to submit to his pyre.

Hux takes a giant leap towards the dragon and almost flies above the river of flames. His swordhand is ready and he gets the dragon by the throat, while his thick-skinned boots smother the flames as he lands.

The Sith Sword cuts into the skin hard enough to get the Dragon to stop. Even the Dragon is not stupid enough to try and breathe fire again, not with the cold fury in Hux’s blue eyes.

Hux would slit his tender throat. _But he wouldn’t. He just let his pent-up, repressed anger out for this moment. The eyes of a madman born from his inherited grievances. And it helps that the Dragon has yet to figure out how to use the Force properly…_

“It appears that Hux is the winner.” The dragon looks down at the floor and snarls at his own shortsightedness. Hux has yet to pull his sword away from him. _Trained to not let his guard down even after victory. Like a good little mercenary._

“Since the duel ran shorter than I thought it would, I believe it’s time for your combat training. But before I can even begin your combat lessons, I have to build your stamina. So I want you each to give me a hundred push-ups and then run about fifty laps.” Hux and the Dragon look at him with twin despair.

 _Good, their collective pain shall bring them closer, which will give Ben more strength._ Kun smiles widely with his ruby teeth showing.

“Well? Get to it!”

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- Here are the links: 
> 
> This is where I got the fencing stretches idea: [Link](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fencing/comments/2obklp/favourite_fencing_warmup_stretches/)
> 
> This is what I meant by Hux’s second exercises. It’s based on sun salutations, which I chose because I thought it would be fun to further weird out the Dragon: [Link](http://payload19.cargocollective.com/1/5/189557/2684582/sunlarge.jpg)
> 
> This was supposed to be about their combat regime, but I decided to shift gears to get a really, really short fight between Hux and the Dragon. It took me awhile to figure out how I was going to write it because I thought how Hux would have to slay a Dragon in the body of his best friend without killing him. Then, I remember that the Dead-Star Dragon has only really ever fought two people and pretty much won both times with fire. I don’t think he ever had to learn martial arts or how to shoot a blaster since he’s a dragon! So Hux, who’s Academy-tested and Unknown Regions-trained, can totally take him on. 
> 
> It also helps that Hux has fought a dragon before. Although, it’s debatable whether it was the actual Great Dragon or some clone made by Sidious. 
> 
> Anyways, next time: Hux takes notes, the Dead-Star Dragon snoozes, while Kun lectures.


	9. The Student

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A Sith Spirit teaches philosophy to a Force-null and a dragon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Eight

********

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Ashley’s Song from _WarioWare: Touched!_

********

            Fifty laps isn’t so bad in Armitage’s opinion. Part of the Academy curriculum is rigorous physical exercise, so he’s used to running laps. It also helps that he spent most of his childhood running anyways. The hundred push-ups were brutal; it didn’t help that they BOTH had to start over whenever they couldn’t do one. And it took the dragon-prince like five times to figure out how to do a proper push-up.

And there was also one more problem…..

“Oh Force, why did you make me eat all of those lizards!” He groans to the dragon-prince after they finished their last push-up. Surprisingly, his stomach wasn’t given him much problems when he was running, but his body does have a habit of delaying pain. And now he’s clutching his stomach like he’s been butted with a rifle.

“Because I don’t like bones!” He snaps back, trying very hard not to pant like a dog even though his clothes are utterly soaked with sweat. Just like Armitage’s. They are both dragging themselves to the water buckets and drinking them like they spent a day on Tatooine.

“Good, you two have enough energy to drink water.” The dragon-prince hisses for the both of them. _He is so lucky that he sounds hot._ Armitage thinks.

“What’s next, Lord Kun?” _We’ve done meditation, combat (kind of), so I guess what’s left is…history? Something to do with textbooks?_

“Your last lesson of the day, philosophy.”

*

The Dead-Star Dragon is pleased that he doesn’t have to move from his spot. Doesn’t have to be away from his water bucket. The Sith Spirit has gone to retrieve what they need from another room. They are alone together.

“So…..ready for philosophy?” The human tries his hand at small talk.

“How can I be ready when I don’t even know what philosophy is?” He grunts, and the human just rolls his eyes at his sarcasm. _Except it isn’t sarcasm, I don’t know what philosophy is!_

“Well, he’ll probably have us reading from some introductory stuff from textbooks or something.” Silence ensues for a heartbeat.

“I can’t read.” The Dead-Star Dragon mumbles. The human’s blue eyes widen with surprise.

“What?” He does not look the human in the eyes.

“I. Can’t. Read.” He snaps, hating how this human once again can do something he can’t.

“Oh……I could—” Mercifully, the Sith Spirit comes floating back into the room with two red-leather tomes floating behind him and a cup of sharpened pencils.

“Now, this a lecture-intensive lesson, so I would advise you both to take ample notes.” The Sith Spirit floats them each a tome and a pencil. The human takes his immediately, but the Dead-Star Dragon refuses to even look at them.

“Or you could try to keep it in your head. Not everyone is a note-taker.” The Dead-Star Dragon brings his water bucket closer to him, watching as his tome and pencil are put in a corner.

“Now, who can tell me about the Three Pillars?” Of course, only the human can answer it. _Force, Knowledge, and Self-Discipline._ His mind traitorously rattles off.

“I presume you’re referring to the Three Pillars of the Jedi.” The Sith Spirit nods. “In that case, the Pillars are Force, Knowledge, and Self-Discipline!”

“Correct, now do you know about the Prophecy.” Surprisingly, the human doesn’t answer.

“The one involving the Dead-Star Dragon burning the Chosen One and his kin?” He ventures, which draws a curious look from the human.

“No, try again.”

“Is it the Jedi Chosen One Prophecy or the Once and Future King Prophecy?” The human asks for clarification, but the Sith Spirit shakes his head at both. Although, the Sith Spirit did shoot the human a curious look on the last prophecy suggestion.

“The Savior?” His mouth speaks without his permission. He punishes it by biting his tongue viciously hard. The Sith Spirit shakes his head.

“The Sith’ari?” Finally, the Sith Spirit nods.

“Can you recite it in its entirety?” The human shakes his sweaty head. The Sith Spirit smirks, making the human blush again. _My Wistie, not his!_ His mind hisses.

“The Sith’ari will be free of limits.” The Sith Spirit’s lowers his voice and deepens it into a devilish whisper.

“The Sith’ari will lead the Sith and destroy them.” The whisper thrums with soothing darkness. The Dead-Star Dragon rubs his golden eyes.

“The Sith’ari will raise the Sith from death.” He can barely keep his eyes open as the Sith Spirit’s voice becomes emptier.

“ _And make them stronger than before._ ”

*

Hux and Kun stare at the sleeping dragon-prince long enough to ascertain that the little grouch is going to be out for a while.

“Let me guess, you put a lot of Force-suggestion in the last line to knock him out?” _A little more than I needed to, apparently._ Kun thinks.

“Yes, I figured he wouldn’t participate in this lesson anyways.” _He can’t read or write._ Hux thinks loudly.

“I know. What use is book-learning for a dragon?” _Then why did you even bother to offer him the tome?_ Hux wonders with a hint of sass that elicits a wolfish grin from Kun.

“There was a possibility that he was interested in learning. Or doodling during the lesson. Just because it seems unlikely, you really shouldn’t ignore the possibility.” _And that’s why contingency plans exist. Palpatine had like a thousand, maybe millions. Well, until he succumbed to Dark Side Madness!_ Kun snorts at that.

“Yes, that’s another way of putting him losing because of his hubris. Now, back to the lesson. Do you know the Jedi Code?” Hux nods. “Do you know the Sith Code?” Same reaction.

“Can you recite them verbatim?” Hux pauses for a moment and then nods. “Then do it.”

“ _There is no emotion, there is peace._

_There is no ignorance, there is knowledge._

_There is no passion, there is serenity._

_There is no chaos, there is harmony._

_There is no death, there is the Force._ ”

Hux recites the Jedi Code as calmly as any Initiate could. _It really is a shame he isn’t strong in the Force; he really could’ve been a Jedi._

“ _Peace is a lie. There is only passion._

_Through passion, I gain strength._

_Through strength, I gain power._

_Through power, I gain victory._

_Through victory, my chains are broken._

_The Force shall free me!”_

Hux recites the Sith Code as passionately as any Apprentice could. _Or a Sith._

“Now, I want you to compare the two Codes. Find some similarities.” He watches as Hux scratch-scratches in his tome. _He writes in cursive? It was practically dead when I was alive. I guess it came back in style._

“Okay, the last line of the Jedi Code and the first line of the Sith Code share the same number of words. The second part of lines 1-4 of the Jedi code and the second part of lines 2-4 also share the same number of words. Both use the words _passion_ , _peace_ , _the, Force, is,_ and _there_ ; both may also use commas and periods depending on which version you’re reading. Both were composed by Force-users. And both are vague.” Hux looks pained like it’s his first time explaining to an admirer why he’s not interested.

“All of that is true.” He purposely pauses long enough for Hux to feel a little more awkward. “But let’s focus on that most important shared feature: vague.”

“But wouldn’t the most important feature be the Force?” _You Force-users spent the dawn of time fighting for it and over it._ He can see the followers of Ashla clashing their Jedi Katanas with the Sith Swords of the followers of Bogan in Hux’s head.

“The Force makes up all life in this galaxy, but what about in other galaxies? Tell me, Armitage, is the Force in your Unknown Regions?” _How can I answer that when I’m a Force-null? Wait, I know there’re Sith temples in the Unknown Regions, so that’s evidence of the Force. Along with their annoying Sith Spirits!_ Kun smirks, fairly certain he’s _annoying_ in a far different way for the boy.

“Yes, at least to the worlds where I’ve been. But I’ve never been in the….heart of the Unknown Regions.” _Den said that the heart is where the Far-Outsiders are. Like a disease._ Kun makes a mental note in the Force to inquire about the Far-Outsiders later. Perhaps, in another year when his disciples finally get into the swing of their lessons.

“So you don’t know if the Force has touched other galaxies because the Unknown Regions is part of this galaxy. Like a second cousin. Which means there might be a chance that the Force isn’t as all-powerful as we’ve been led to believe.” Hux’s apple-green eyes widen like he’s been told a fatal secret. _Force……a Force-user saying that is like Jaina saying piloting is stupid!_

“If that’s the case, then wouldn’t all of the wars ever fought since the beginning of time in this galaxy, at least the ones dealing with the Jedi and Sith, be for nothing?” Kun’s smile practically reaches his jug ears.

“Sounds very like the Force, wouldn’t you say?” Now, Hux is smiling like a little imp at his blasphemy.

“Now, back to the lesson at hand. What is your definition of _vague_ , Armitage?” Hux takes a moment to quickly scribble their previous conversation before answering.

“ _Vague_ is of uncertain or unclear character or motive. At least that’s how the HoloNet defines it. I believe _vague_ is something that wants to come across as mysterious, but fails at it and ends up being senseless. Like nearly every prophecy that deals with a Chosen One, or a Savior, or even the Once and Future King.” Disdain colors Hux’s thoughts as he lists his examples, but it softens on the last example.

“If that’s so, then _why_ are the codes vague if being vague is so obviously senseless?” _Okay, usually when something is vague, it means there isn’t enough information. And when there isn’t enough information………you guess._ Hux’s frustration color his thoughts.

“I guess it’s to let people interpret it as they see fit. Because there seems to be a way of….interpretation between the two. Like _There is no emotion, there is peace_ / _Peace is a lie. There is only passion_ lines seem definitive. But, logically, they’re both impossible. Emotions are most certainly real, while passion is not the only thing that exists.” Hux pauses for a moment; his face slightly twists like a thoughtful fox.

“So I believe the codes are vague to allow for interpretation.” Hux concludes slowly, uncertain if he gave the correct answer. Kun smiles, easily easing Hux’s uncertainty.

“Yes, a sound theory. Yet, it seems that it has the slipped the notice of, well, nearly all Force-users these past millennia.” Hux’s lips curl into a coy grin.

“But not us.” Kun looks pointedly at him.

“Yes, not us.” His words hang in the air like a cobweb until it is blown away by the dragon’s snore.

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- No links this time. 
> 
> Yes, I’m finally done with this chapter! Man, this took me awhile to figure out where I was going. And Ben is not a terrible student of Luke’s; he at least recalled the Three Pillars. But next chapter is something I’ve been dying to write for like a month: I get to write about their parents, particularly Brendol! And, to note, my Brendol Hux will not be anything like New Canon!Brendol Hux because I think it’s far too easy to write a generic Imperial asshole that is solely there to be a reason to why General Hux is the way he is and why Phasma is even with the First Order in the first place. Remember, I’m not married to New Canon or Legends, but I do like playing with Legends more because there’s just more material/characters to work with. 
> 
> So next time: Brendol Hux has gotten back to the Academy after a week of council meetings and finds out that Armitage is missing. Luckily, he has a tracker on his Queen Izrina and is able to find his son’s last known location: Yavin IV. There he meets up with the infamous Rebel Trio: Han Solo, Leia Organa, and Luke Skywalker. And, of course, a First Order higher-up skulking about on a Republic-sanctioned planet does not go over well. 
> 
> Also, Anakin finally learns that his grandson is missing. 
> 
> So will Brendol Hux be able to work with the Republic? Will Han shoot him first? Will Leia stab him with a fork? Will Luke learn from him? Or will Brendol continue pissing Grand Admiral Sloane off? Tune in next time!


	10. The Sire

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chewbacca shot first.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe. 
> 
> SO MUCH LEGENDS! FORCE!
> 
> And Anakin and Dooku interact. How the fuck did that happen?

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Nine

*********

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme-Love Love Love by The Mountain Goats

*********

            Brendol Hux is free. After a week of Shadow Council meetings and dealing with General Dickhead and Grand Admiral Sloane, he is finally free to return to his shuttle and enjoy a ten-hour-in-hyperspace ride back to the Academy without having to interact with another person.

 _Force, let the war they’re making be their undoing._ Brendol prays to the Force. He knows by the time that next Galactic War hits; he’ll be long gone.

 _And with Rama, Force-willing! And Armitage will be a man by that point. He won’t need us._ Brendol truly believes. He knows his dragonling will rise from the First Order ashes and become the new—

“Commandant Hux, a word.” _FUCK!_ He was half a meter from his shuttle. Half a meter from his well-earned freedom. And, of course, Grand Admiral Sloane has to take that from him.

“Yes, Grand Admiral.” He manages respectfully for their onlookers. And he walks right behind her, so he doesn’t squish any of the low-level officers, and to a nearby conference room. As he closes the door, he hears a chortle from a passing officer. That officer knows as well as Brendol why the conference rooms are sound-proof.

It’s to let the Grand Admiral and him have their infamous screaming matches.

 _Please, let this finally be the coup to get rid of General Dickhead and not about the Academy._ She’s always been quite vocal about the way he runs the Academy.

 _If I ran it like during the Empire, then none of these future fodder would survive outside the Academy._ He knows that this generation, Armitage’s generation, will be tougher than the last, but that does not guarantee they’ll be smarter.

 _They need battle experience, and all we have are simulations and stories. And better-trained ‘Troopers. Then again, it would be “barbaric” to let the children go to war._ Even though, Brendol was far younger than them when he first went to war. And he knows Armitage has seen several wars, and he was even younger.

“It’s about Armitage.” He could almost breathe a sigh of relief if it weren’t for the anger in her dark eyes.

“I thought you liked his Thrawn essay. I mean he’s no Lord Zahn, but he had plenty of good ideas. Except for that evil clone sub-plot.” The tightness in her frown does not dissipate.

“He’s been missing for a week now.” _And she just learned this now, or else she would’ve told me much sooner and then accused me of being a horrible father._ Which he won’t deny.

“Really? I had no idea.” _So she has Veed in her pocket too. Well, at least, he has sensible tastes. However, I’ll have to dock his pay for not telling me earlier; a child becomes missing after twenty-four hours, not a whole week._

“You did put a tracker in him?” _“Like I told you to do so the last time this happened.”_ He can practically hear that un-said nag.

“Yes, I did.” _In my ship which he would be in, so I actually did fulfill her order._

“I will cover you for as long as I can.” _You bought me a year last time. I hope it doesn’t take another._

*

The _Dark Lady Lumiya_ is a customized EF76 Nebulon-B escort frigate that his brother acquired due to the fortuitous blundering of Old Republic officers. Brendol is reminded of Armitage when he sees the ship.

When Armitage was three, Maratelle got him a Bast Castle model kit for his birthday. She knew that three-year-old Armitage wasn’t going to build the castle as instructed; she just wanted to see what kind of interesting mess he would make.

He managed to make the spirals of lights that make up only the side of the castle’s tower before sticking those light spires on top of the skeletal tower. _Dark Lady Lumiya_ looks somewhat like that except it was turned into the flagship of the most successful privateering empire in the Unknown Regions.

“ _First Order ship, why are you here?_ ” He hears the heavily-accented Basic come across his receiver.

“[To see Captain Siva. I am Brendol Hux and my verification code is SW9661985.]” He says in perfect Nagaian. His brother gave him that code decades ago when they became independent and needed some way to identify one another in case there is doubt on the other’s identity.

“[ _Proceed to Docking Bay 3._ ]” Docking Bay 3’s hangar is a bit dead. There are only five TIE fighters and seven Nagai ammonite-shaped cruisers. _So Den must’ve sent the others out for training or another raid. Or both._ He knows that the First Order won’t be raided by him; Den has no interests in the Empire’s sloppy seconds.

So long as they do not mess with his Empire.

“[Bren, I take it Armitage has taken your ship and now you need to locate him?]” His Nagai brother cuts through niceties that humans like to employ. He is dressed in an indigo bodysuit that cling to his sharp, white body like leather. His golden belt holds his array of Tehk’la blades and a hidden field disruptor. He is wearing a high-collared, night-purple cape with silver fan brooch that Armitage got him last White Night.

“[Yes.]” Brendol believes he has no need to tell him that Armitage has been missing for a week. _Armitage has my ship, so I can find him quicker than the last time._ Den gives a curt nod and takes out his comlink.

“[Navigator Wellos, give me the location for the _Queen Izrina_.]” He speaks Minnisiat without an accent.

“[She is located on Yavin IV; shall I send over a homing device?]” Den answers yes and then shuts off his comlink.

“[It’ll take about ten minutes for it to get here. And since Armitage took your ship, I imagine that you would like another one.]” They both know that First Order shuttles do not have big enough fuel cells to make it all the way to Yavin and back. Nor remain undetected by the New Republic.

“[Take _Zrani_.]” Den offers in the guise of an order as a Chiss Ensign passes by them. _Zrani_ is his Nagaian starship that is shaped like a white and gold screw shell. Like the _Queen Izrina_ , _Zrani_ is outfitted with a cloaking device that will render the ship nearly invisible and undetectable on most sensors.  

“[Thank you, my brother.]” Den brushes some stray blue-black hair away from his sharp face. His ice-blue eyes darken with memories.

“[Bren, if this another repeat of the past… Bring him back.]”

“[I shall.]”

*

There are several things that Brendol knows about Yavin IV without needing to look into the First Order database. The first is that the world once was a Sith stronghold for millennia. The second is that it was the sight of the battle that would pfassk up the Imperial date time structure. The final one is that it’s a jungle planet, so he can’t wear his classical Sith armor that he wore this past Death Night. Luckily, he has another suit of armor.

Sith trooper armor has a black body glove and a sleek armor casing that is light enough for anyone of Brendol’s muscular girth to wear. Unfortunately, the Sith trooper armor he had was silver, so he had to spend half his time in hyperspace spray-painting it in jungle colors. And then other half waiting for the paint to dry.

 _I look like if Peter Pan became a Power Ranger._ He thinks as soon as he dons the armor. But he is glad that his helmet has night-vision. He straps _Master Killer_ to his back and makes sure his blaster is set to kill.

 _I feel like a Rebel._ He wonders if Desolous was felled by a Rebel with a blaster. And then he shakes his head and heads out into the jungles of Yavin in search of Rama’s son.

*

After his visit with Obi-Wan and Ahsoka, Anakin decided to return to his favorite activity: watching his grandson. The problem was he got nothing but static from the projector, which meant two things. Either his grandson is dead or he’s trapped somewhere that is extremely strong in the Dark Side.

The former is not possible because he would’ve certainly felt it, since he is the Chosen One, and he knows Xanatos would’ve been constantly bitching about another Skywalker messing up the Afterlife. And he hasn’t exceeded his usual bitching. So the latter is what happened.

And so, for nearly a week, he’s been watching his son, daughter, and her stupid smuggler husband search for his beloved grandson.

And so far, they’ve turned up nothing.

_“Leia, Chewie’s searching the only known location left on Yavin.”_

_“And he might not be there.”_

_“Yes, but I feel in the Force that the Temple of the Blueleaf Cluster is very important.”_

_“Luke, I don’t think Ben’s there. I……can’t feel him anywhere on this planet.”_

_“And I still can’t feel him in the Force—”_

_“Since when?!”_

_“Han!”_

_“Leia, if he can’t feel anything, then doesn’t that mean Ben’s—”_

_“That doesn’t mean he’s dead. Even corpses leave traces in the Force!”_ Anakin grimaces at the hurt in his son’s eyes. He knows he’s thinking about the Death Star.

 _“Luke’s right, Han.”_ And now Leia is thinking about Alderaan.

_“So he’s what? Vanished completely? Did your Force decide to wipe him off the face of the galaxy!?”_

_“It’s not Luke’s fault!”_

_“Luke was supposed to be watching him! Isn’t that one of your Jedi Master duties!?”_ Anakin hates Han. Not as much as sand or Mustafar. But he hates him. But he hates agreeing with him more. Luke should’ve kept a closer eye on him.

 _Yeah, but to Ben, it would’ve felt more like Luke was just waiting for him to mess up again. Just like me._ Anakin sighs deeply and just wants his family to be at peace.

**_Knock! Knock!_ **

_Two knocks, which means it’s either Qui-Gon or Obi-Wan. They’re probably going to tell me how worry they’ve been and I should just leave the living alone._ Now, Anakin feels guilty. Even in the Afterlife, he’s still causing others problems. He switches the holo over to Chewbacca, the Wookie.

He wants to watch the Wookie in hopes that by some miracle he somehow finds Ben, but he does not want to keep Qui or Obi waiting.

“Dooku!?” His great-grand-Master (and one of his murder victims) is standing outside his door. The silver-haired aristocrat has his standard disapproving frown. _At least he’s not wearing his stupid cape; he probably left it with Sifo._

“Yes, it is I, Skywalker.” _He’s saying it like I’m an idiot. Force, why couldn’t have been Qui or Obi? Why is he here?_

“Uh, why are you here?” Dooku rolls his dark eyes. _You know what I wish it was Xanatos because at least he would be a dick upfront._

“Because Qui-Gon asked me to.” Anakin narrows his eyes. _Qui has asked him to do plenty of things with me before and he’s refused him at every turn._

“It was actually Sifo, wasn’t it?” Dooku remains in a dignified silence. _Yup, so Sifo convinced him. It’s very hard to say “no” to someone you love…and murdered._

“I……… _appreciate_ your—” He hears a blaster being fired and a Wookie’s cry.

*

Brendol is surprised by how well-kept the Jedi Temple was. _I’m presuming it’s a Jedi Temple; the plants are just shrubs with blue leaves and about half my height. The Temple is not the traditional pyramids that Sith Lords love. And the jungle surrounding this place is peaceful. No animals trying to openly kill each other, no skeletons, no rivers of pollution._

However, he is not surprised by finding his ship here and no Armitage. _Hmm, he’s not in the ship and he left his pack here, but his sword is gone. So something must’ve happened and he had to get off the ship in a hurry, and it must’ve been dangerous enough for him to bring his sword. Or, he got too excited and simply forgot it._

He sighs deeply, knowing in his bones, it’s the latter. _He’s good at keeping himself focused at the Academy, but outside…he becomes a kid adventurer. He should be able to survive in a jungle; I’m not sure for how long since the Wayland trip got cut short, but it should be long enough for me to find him._

He steps into the Jedi Temple and notices two things. There are only a couple windows, narrow and tall slits, in the Temple and let only the barest sliver of starlight. The second is there’s a gigantic blue crystal that looks a lot like a Star Gate. _Is it a Kyber crystal? But it’s blue. Aren’t they supposed to be colorless until touched or something? No, that’s just one of the ways a crystal gets its color._ He vaguely recalls Desolous telling him the various ways a lightsaber gets its color.

The blue crystal looks like it was stretched and beaten thin like sheets of gold, but then cut into a triangular mirror. _It’s so blue. It’s such a pretty light-blue. If I touched it, would it take me to another world?_ The thought does not come from any inner-child for he’s never been a child; it comes from his time with Rama, the one who gave him his child.

The starlight falls through the slit and hits the crystal, making it look like thousands of stars dancing on water. _Maybe, it really is a Star Gate and Armitage stepped through it. Will I see the dragonling again?_

Or, the question that matters more to him than the child.

_Will I ever see Rama again?_

And then the right side, above the side of his hip where there is no armor, feels like five explosive arrows pierce him. A couple of his ribs and his right hip is nothing but a burning, boney mess that will kill him. If the shock doesn’t first.

 _FUCK!!!!!!_ He lifts up his right arm and fires several times at the window. First, he hears the glass break and then he hears a beastly cry.

When he was younger and loveless, he believed he would be fine with dying so long as he took his murderer down with him. Now, graying and lovesick, he regrets staring at the pretty Jedi crystal.

He can hear Desolous’s voice, dark and deep like a sinkhole, rasping the Prophecy in his ear:

_“Your love will be the death of you.”_

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- Here are the links:
> 
> Here is what the Dark Lady Lumiya looks like, which is actually the Legends/Expanded Universe Dark Lady Lumiya’s Revenant flagship except with a few necessary modifications that will be revealed at a later date: [Link](https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/5/50/NBfrigate.JPG/revision/latest?cb=20061215024715)
> 
> Here is the Bast Castle, which in Legends was Darth Vader’s palace that once belonged to Count Dooku. It’s located on the literal acid-rain planet known as Vjun where Malreaux roses come from and one of the only Yoda and Dooku books take place on: [Link](https://vignette2.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/4/45/Bast_Castle.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20051114085340)
> 
> Here is an image of Den Siva. He too is another character from Legends/Expanded Universe where he was a Nagai working for Dark Lady Lumiya and was obsessed with a Zeltron smuggler named Dani. In this, he is a privateer and the non-blood brother of Brendol Hux: [Link](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/9/9b/Den_siva.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20051109174603)
> 
> Here is an image of the Sith trooper armor, except imagine it green: [Link](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/1/14/SithTroopers.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20070313005533)
> 
> Here is an image of the blue crystal in the Temple of the Blueleaf Cluster. I’ve got plans for that crystal since it doesn’t really do anything in Legends, even though its design would lead you to believe otherwise: [Link](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/4/44/RMQ-TempleBlueleafCluster.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/180?cb=20070807205439)
> 
> It’s been a while since I wrote a medium-length chapter. This was supposed to be longer, but I really did like my end bit and decided to save the rest for the next chapter. Also, Rama is Triclops, again, it’s another point that will be explained in the story at a later date. And Desolous is not an OC; he’s just an unnamed New Canon character that I gave a name (which I took from a Legends character) too. I really don’t like utilizing OCs when the universe I’m playing in has so many, many, many named characters I can use. 
> 
> Next chapter: Brendol meets Senator Organa again. And the Force Ghosts reunite to play commentators again.


	11. The Mother

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leia is not pleased.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Ten

+

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Langtree’s Lament from Over the Garden Wall

+

            Brendol Hux dreams of eyes.

He sees blue eyes, sharp and cold like Tehk’la knives.

He sees silver eyes, alert and dutiful like a sentinel.

He sees yellow eyes, prideful and possessive like a dragon.

He sees green eyes, sultry and kind like true love.

The green eyes vanish like a mist and leave behind a pair of smaller, blue-green eyes. These eyes look at him with wonderment and innocence. He feels unworthy of such eyes.

But those eyes disappear, and he’s left gasping.

Blue eyes, bright and patronizing, takes their place.

Then, the rest of the eyes disappear, leaving him with the bright eyes.

Hatred, ancient and dark, fills him.

He hears himself roaring.

He hears himself swinging.

He hears himself crying.

He hears himself dying.

Meanwhile—

+

Dooku knows that the Wookie is alive, but hurt. Because of Yoda’s close relationship with Wookies, his old Master saw fit to teach him everything about Wookies, including their language. However, Skywalker did not receive the same fortitudinous training from the wizened trickster.

“OH FORCE, CHEWIE’S DEAD!” _Where do Xanatos and Skywalker get their dramatics from?_ Not from him, he believes.

“No, he isn’t. Anyone can clearly see and hear that the Wookie is crying from losing his crossbow fingers. Chewbacca is alive and will be fine once a medic re-attaches his fingers.”   _And since bacta is no object, the Wookie will regain full use of his fingers…eventually._ But Skywalker insists upon his histrionics.

“But that means one less person searching for Ben!” Dooku would have rolled his eyes if he was like the whiney child before him.

“Even _you_ can’t find Ben. What makes you believe that the living can?” Skywalker finally gathers himself and shoots him a glare that he’s seen so many times in the Clone Wars.

“They love Ben; they won’t give up until he’s found!” Dooku narrows his dark eyes.

“Then, why did your daughter and her ruffian husband gave their son up to the Jedi? Did you ever consider that perhaps your family isn’t as loving as you think they are?” Skywalker snarls, but Dooku continues.

“And it’s not like they couldn’t afford to take care of him.” Skywalker’s nostrils flare out like he believes that he’s being personally attacked.

“Leia isn’t trained in the ways of the Force, so she couldn’t teach him how to control his powers!” _That is no excuse, but he won’t see it that way._ Dooku is not one to give up a fight.

“And whose fault was that? If I recalled from your past whines, Luke has offered her plenty of times to teach her how to be a Jedi and she refused at every turn.” Skywalker shakes his head.

“Her passion and talents lie in politics. And she’s a Senator, so she didn’t have time to learn to be a Jedi!” Now, Dooku shakes his head.

“Neither for her son.” Dooku can see the golden hairs on Skywalker’s neck rise like he’s about to attack him.  

“Ben knew that she was busy re-building the Republic!” _“It’s okay, mom, I know you’re trying to save the galaxy. We can braid each other’s hair some other time.”_ Dooku can see Skywalker remembering that particular conversation between five-year-old Ben Solo and a very haggard Leia Organa. He knows that Skywalker is solely focused on the positives of the memory: how Leia is giving her all to make sure that the New Republic won’t fall apart like the Old, while Ben wants to make his mom happy. Skywalker did not see the disappointment brimming in those brown eyes.  

“Knowing is not the same as acceptance.” Dooku intones. He can see Skywalker open his pouty mouth again to argue, but is interrupted by a short scream. They both look at the holo-screen.

_“LUKE!” Leia shouts as her twin is cut down by a gold-colored sword. Han shoots several times at the green swordsman’s helm. The helm breaks apart to reveal a graying ginger with bright-blue eyes lit with bloodlust; he falls as Luke fell, screaming._

*

 _Am I in Rivendell?_ Brendol thinks before he opens his eyes. He feels sunlight pressing down on his eyelids and hopes that the crystal somehow teleported him to Rivendell and he’ll see fine-as-Seven-Sith-Hells Aragorn there.

 _Fuck._ Brendol nearly groans at the site before him. He’s in a medbay and, from all of the machines and bacta tanks, he almost believes that he’s in the Halls of Healing. Except, aside from the medical machines and some depowered med-droid in the corner, there is no metal. He sees brown stone covering the floors and walls like it’s from an abandon temple.

 _I don’t think there’s even windows here._ He sees a lizard with a tail curled up like a scorpion’s crawling up a wall and then passing through where there should’ve been glass. He can hear the cawing, cricking, hissing, and snorting of the creatures in the jungle.

 _Okay, this is not Rivendell. This is Yavin; I’m here to find Armitage, but I haven’t. And then I got shot._ He mentally reviews. He touches his face because he recalls being shot in the face, but there are no gauzy, itchy bandages or patches on his face. Although, he’s missing his beard.

 _My face feels tender, but whole. I should be missing a cheek considering how close that blaster shot felt!_ He then remembers how his right hip and a rib became a pulpy, boney mess. He reaches for the tan sheet hiding the bottom half of his body.

“Your right hip and two of your bottom right ribs had to be replaced. After several surgeries, you were placed in a bacta tank for about two days. The medics say that you shall make a full recover in three weeks.” Senator Leia Organa sweeps into the room like she knew he was going to wake up at that exact moment. _Which she might since she is Darth Vader’s daughter._

The senator is dressed in an Alderaan blue tunic with matching pants; her hair is plaited messily with spurts of brown locks sticking out from the knots. _She’s dressed like she went to a Senate meeting. Which she might’ve done via holo-conference. And she looks pissed._

He has a feeling that it’s his fault.

“Commandant Hux, aside from assaulting officers of the New Republic Defense Force, what brings you to Yavin?” _Oh, so that’s why she’s angry. And she didn’t use “murder,” so they’re alive. I should be chained to the bed, unless she really believes that I’m too weak from the surgeries to be a threat to her._ But he knows that she’s the type to carry a blaster in her boot and won’t hesitate to shoot if he tries anything foolish.

“I’m looking for Armitage.”

+

 _If Armitage is missing, then it is likely that Ben took him._ She remembers how fixated her son was on the twiggy ginger. _I’ve never seen him so absorb in someone outside our family, not unless they were dead or fictional. I should’ve known…but how could I’ve known he would do this? I haven’t really spoken to him in months._

Whenever she called him up to see how he was doing, he would just grunt at her. _In the initial months, he would complain constantly about how Luke doesn’t really care about him, how his classmates looked at him like he was a freak, how he never wanted to be a Jedi. But after some more months, he gave up and became reticent. And all this time, I thought he just accepted that he needed help._

But then Ben’s tenth birthday showed her how wrong her assumption was.

_He didn’t acknowledge that he needed help. He just resigned himself to be something he hated and sometimes being……Prince Amidala._

But then Ben met Armitage.

_He met someone that is so far removed from all that he’s ever known. Armitage is a child of the First Order and Commandant Hux, but he didn’t act like a vicious bastard. He was so…innocent. And lonely._

So what did her son drag Armitage into?

“Is your son missing too?” The Commandant asks hesitantly. _He sounds like he’s preparing himself for a scolding from a schoolmarm. Where’s the coldness, the bluntness that is expected of him?_ She didn’t like how bashful the older man was being.

 _He nearly cost Chewie his hand, and he would’ve killed Luke if Han didn’t shoot him down._ She could’ve left the Commandant there, dying slowly and painfully from his wounds, for hurting her family. But she is not Darth Vader. She, Han, and Chewie, with only one working hand, dragged the fallen men back to the Praxeum and hauled them into the bacta tanks. She remembers watching the Commandant and Luke floating beside each other in the tanks.

 _“He’s a living mass of scar tissue.”_ One medic told her right after they prepped him for the surgeries. And she cannot help wonder if Armitage will one day end up being his father.

“Yes, he’s most likely with yours.” The Commandant frowns. _Does he think I’m placing blame on Armitage? No, I wouldn’t. That boy is too…innocent. And Ben is……_

“Then, he’ll survive. Armitage has been trained to survive in jungles.” _And much worse._ She catches his stray thought.

“I checked your ship and there was a bag of supplies in the co-pilot’s chair.” _Water, rations, matches, and a medkit; how long can they survive without supplies?_

“He’s been trained to survive without pre-packaged supplies. Believe me, Armitage will make sure your boy won’t starve.” He grins, which surprises her. _Is he truly not worried about his own son?_

“Did you train your son in altruism?” She sees a flash of disgust at _your son_ on his worn face.

“I never had to. He was born good.” He states so matter-of-factly. For a brief second, she almost allowed herself to wish she had the same confidence in her son.

“I doubt goodness is going to bring them home.” His face scrunches up in confusion.

“Don’t you know?” Now, she looks at him with confusion.

“Know what?”

“Good always triumph over evil.” She shakes her head at such……fairytale logic. _Sounds ripped from Ben’s favorite show. Well, until the Wizard of Oz arc._

“Like true love’s kiss will break any curse?” She’s feel like she just channeled Han’s dry sarcasm. But the Commandant is not offended.

“Exactly.” She nearly face-palmed.

_How the pfassk did he end up in the First Order!?_

*

Dooku and Anakin collectively face-palm for Leia.

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- There are no links this time.
> 
> I was really tempted to end this with more Force Ghost shenanigans, but I’ll save it for a later chapter. Bright side, Leia and Brendol know that their kids are missing together on Yavin. They still don’t know where exactly they are, but they’re not dead. I mean Ben’s spirit is in the belly of the Dead-Star Dragon, but Armitage is there for him. 
> 
> Next time: Exar-Kun decides to reward his disciples, Armitage wants to eat something besides cooked lizards, the Dead-Star Dragon does not know how to deal with feelings, and Ben is still in the belly of the beast.


	12. The Mermaid

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dead-Star Dragon lets Armitage teach him how to swim. Meanwhile, Brendol is trying not to piss off the other Skywalker twin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Eleven

+*

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Delius by Kate Bush

+*

            It has been exactly a week and four days since Armitage Hux and Prince Amidala/Dead-Star Dragon became Exar Kun’s disciples. Hux has taken to the lessons like Wart with Merlyn, while the Dead-Star Dragon took to it like Mordred with Merlin.

“….And that will be all for today.” The Dead-Star Dragon rolls his eyes as Hux copies down the Sith Spirit’s words. Again. _He even writes, “And that will be all for today.” He’s such a fanatic!_

“You’re frowning at the end of lessons again. Are you sure you don’t want me to teach you how to read and write? Because it would be great if you participated in the lectures too!” _His eyes always get so bright when he wants to “help” me! I don’t need some human’s help!_

“Your face is red again. Are you sick?” The human tries to touch his forehead, but the Dragon hisses at him.

“Okay, okay! It would be nice if you _fully_ participated in the lessons.” _Why? All you do is drool after the Sith Spirit!_ He growls subconsciously loudly at the thought. The human just sighs as usual.

“Do you want to bathe now or after dinner?” The Dead-Star Dragon _enjoys_ being bathed by the human. _And it is natural, someone as lowly him should be honored to service me._ He hears a childish laugh echo across his mind.

“……Since you are so eager to teach,” The Dead-Star Dragon pauses, truly wondering what he was going to say next. “Why don’t you teach me to swim?”

The human’s disgustingly green eyes light up with excitement and his pouty, thin lips become a ridiculous smile.  

“YES, YES!!!” The dragon-prince nearly flinches at his ears being pierced. The human grabs his hand and tugs him out of the room. Exar Kun watches the children leave with the ghost of a smile on the dead Sith Lord’s lips.

_The Prince is getting through to the Dragon._

\+  

Brendol Hux takes a nap shortly after Senator Organa leaves with her face twisted in disillusionment. When he wakes up, he has an unexpected guest that had the tact to appear without fanfare.

He sees a young man, at the end of the bed, reading a datapad with a beard that was supposed to make him look older, but just highlights to Brendol the young man’s youth. He has perfectly golden hair along with perfectly blue eyes. The man is dressed all in black, which reminds Brendol of something he heard a long time ago.

 _Oh Force, this is going to bother me all day, isn’t it?_ Brendol audibly sighs, alerting the man to his consciousness.

“Do you need some water, Commandant Hux?” The young man politely asks. _Damn it, I know him from somewhere!_ Brendol thinks, and then nods. The young man gets up, sets his datapad down on his lawn chair, and then disappears into the hall; a minute later, the young man emerges with a cup of water in his gloved hand.

“Thank you.” Brendol takes the cup and hears the light grinding of fine gears. He drinks half the cup and hands it back to the young man. The young man sets the cup down beside his cheap chair.

“Do you need anything else, Commandant Hux?” _Formal, but I sense some……suspicion in his voice. Did I do something to him?_ The nagging sensation increases in his mind.

“Well, I would like to know your name.” The young man pauses like he’s trying to assess how much damage Brendol can do with his name.

“My name is Luke Skywalker.” Realization floods Brendol’s mind and his face almost breaks out into a relieved grin. _Luke Skywalker, son of Anakin Skywalker and Padmé Amidala, twin to Leia Organa, and, sadly, the current Chosen One._

“……..You’re nominal?” _I did slice you with my Sith Sword and I’ve never used it on a real Jedi before._ Brendol expects Luke to be experiencing bizarre symptoms like vomiting black blood.

“Yes? We have the latest models of bacta tanks here. My chest and shoulder are going to be sore for another week, but I’m fine.” Luke states calmly like any Master Jedi, but Brendol can see his awkwardness by the way his shoulders and flesh hand tense. _I sincerely doubt he has experience in making small chat with someone who nearly killed him._

“……Did you destroy my sword and armor?” Luke pauses and gives him a critical look very reminiscent of his twin.   

“No, but they’re locked up.” _Probably in the Temple’s vaults because that’s standard Jedi procedure._ Brendol hopes he isn’t going to have to break into the vaults.

“……..I take it the children are still missing.” Luke nods grimly. _He seems more bothered by it than the Senator. He is the current Chosen One and probably believes that he should have the power to locate them. But he’s a Jedi, and nothing can blindside the Jedi like the Sith._

“Have you searched the Sith Temples?” Luke stares at him like a dumbfounded farm boy.

“Yavin IV was used as a Sith World long before it fell into the hands of the Rebellion. It was first settled by Sith Lord Naga Sadow and his Sith warriors known as the Massassi. By the end of the Sith War, the Jedi cornered an ex-Jedi known as Exar Kun here and burnt a huge swath of the jungle here. They did try to reverse some of the damage with a terraforming station, but then they decided it would be better to erase any records of it.” _“As usual to hide mistakes that would’ve sullen their perfect reputations.”_ He hears Desolous’s double-edged voice tear through his memories.

“Then, wouldn’t the Sith Temples have been destroyed along with the jungle?” Brendol nearly scoffs, but reminds himself to be patient with this Jedi youngling.

“Not all Sith Lords are obnoxiously loud. Some would ensure that their Temples would be hidden in the Dark, so, of course, the Light wouldn’t sense it. There’s probably hundreds of undiscovered Sith Temples on this moon alone.” Luke looks down, and Brendol nearly winces at the hopelessness in those light eyes.

“…….How do you know all of this?” The whine is caught in Luke’s throat.

“I had a Jedi boyfriend during the Clone Wars.”

*

“Now, do you know what a mermaid is?” Is the first thing Armitage says when they reach their bath-pool room.

“No.” _Yes._ The Dead-Star Dragon’s mind continues to rebel.

“Imagine me missing the bottom half of my body, arse and all. You know the tail of a stinger lizard?” The Dead-Star Dragon nods. “Now imagine that tail in place of my legs and then add a second tail-end to it. That’s what a mermaid looks like.”

 _So a mermaid has a stinger lizard’s tail, but split at the bottom?_ The Dead-Star Dragon imagines the human stinging his own hands with his tail. His mind begins to laugh at him.

“What does a _mermaid_ have to do with swimming?” _Am I supposed to sting the water?_ His mind will not cease laughing at him.

“Mermaids live in water ergo they swim in it. And if you want to be pedantic, mermaids refer to the female, while merman refer to the male.” The Dead-Star Dragon rolls his golden, serpentine eyes in impatience.

“Anyways, you need to be like a mermaid or merman!” The Dead-Star Dragon frowns in confusion.

“So I need to cut the tails of the stinger lizards and form them into giant tail, and then I need to cut my legs off and put it there?” _Yeah, I don’t know where he’s going with the mermaid analogy._ His mind admits, which makes the Dead-Star Dragon feel slightly better.

“No! What I’m getting at is that you need to immerse yourself in water, or, really, conqueror your fear.” The Dead-Star Dragon growls loudly.

“I fear nothing!” The human rolls his watery blue eyes at him.

“Let me rephrase that: you really need to work on your _discomfort_ of water. And I am here to help if you…..would have me.” The last part sounded like a proposal from a fairytale. Yet, the Dead-Star Dragon knows no such things as fairytales. Just mermaid tails.

“……I would have you.” _If you would have me._ The Dead-Star Dragon refuses to add that last part.

He does not want to be wed to this human.

+

“But Jedi are not supposed to……” Luke trails off before he can continue his probably hypocrisy. Brendol feels the nagging feeling return with full force. _Okay, there’s something really important about him that I forgot!_

“Feel love? Have emotions? Have _attachments_? You won’t get many students if you advertise that they must forsake their friends and family for the Light, while you get to keep yours.” Brendol’s intention was to tease, but the old lover’s pain warps his voice with bitterness.

“No! That’s not what I meant!” _Bullshit, that’s exactly what you meant._ If Brendol was younger, he’d have the tactlessness to say this and a fight would ensue.

“……..There were plenty of Jedi who could not abide by the Code; they formed attachments to their Clone Troopers and to even some Republic Officers. It was mostly clones because most of the officers I knew were the precursors to the ambitious, nepotistic Imperials.” Luke gapes at him, which makes Brendol leer.

“Did you really believe that since all Imperials were wicked that they must get along? Of course they didn’t, and the Rebellion knew that. If Imperials weren’t pitted against each other, the Empire might have won.” This time Brendol is teasing Luke.

“But aren’t you an Imperial?” Brendol’s intended scoff turns into a snort.

“I’m about as Imperial as you are.” Luke glares at him like the impertinent youth that he is.

“I know you. You served the last two years of the Clone Wars as Tarkin’s junior officer and then you became an instructor at the Imperial Academy in Arkanis. When you became the Commandant, you handpicked the best students to become the Commandant’s Own and they were destined to become high-ranking officers in the Empire.” _He seems more rankled about that last part than my time with Tarkin._ Brendol takes a moment to consider his next words carefully.

“I was not the only Commandant doing that; I was just public about it. And did you really think that any of them would become high-ranking officers? No, they were just the best at the Arkanis Academy, not out of the entire Empire. Just because they do well in school, it doesn’t guarantee them a high post upon graduation.” _Even Tarkin made his mistress work. I wonder whatever happened to Natasi Daala after she gassed those Imperial Warlords. I know Pellaeon went to the Chiss, but I haven’t heard anything about her in over a decade._ Brendol makes a mental note to ask Sloane about it.

“……We’re getting off-track.” And Brendol agrees.

“Yes, we need to focus on the missing children who are probably trapped in a Sith Temple.” The words should be sarcastic, but Brendol keeps his tone neutral.

“Yes…………..I have to go.” _Probably to comb through the Archives for a map on Sith Temples. If there are any maps that weren’t burned along with the original flora._

“May the Force be with you.” Now, Luke looks at him exactly like Leia did.

*

“Jedi boyfriend? Do you know who it was?” Anakin turns to Dooku.

“Why would I?” Dooku raises an eyebrow, waiting for the inevitable snap.

“He said he _had_ a Jedi boyfriend, so it means that the boyfriend died. I thought maybe—”

“And you presume I had something to do with his lover’s demise? There’s a good chance that he could’ve died during Order 66.” _By your hands_. Anakin hears the implication, and he frowns.

“Fine, fine, but aren’t you curious about which Jedi would disobey the Code for………him?” Anakin does not know how to describe Brendol, except that he wasn’t what he expected. Dooku rolls his dark eyes.

“Yes, I am. But we simply can’t knock on every door and hope to find him.” Dooku reasons.

“Hmm……we know that he’s a he and it was a Jedi during the Clone Wars. The timeframe narrows it quite considerably.” There were 10,000 Jedi at the beginning of the war, which is just a fraction of the Jedi that inhabit this Afterlife. And within that, there was at least one Line that can be eliminated: Yoda’s.

“But neither you nor I knew all of the Jedi during the war.” Anakin opens his mouth. “And don’t even think about asking Yoda, even he can’t know _all_ of them off the top of his head.”

“………I guess we can hang flyers about and hope someone will answer?” The suggestion is barely out of Anakin’s mouth and Dooku is already shaking his head.

“It appears we need to wait until Brendol Hux divulges more details.” And for once, Anakin does what Dooku suggests.

+

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- No links this time. 
> 
> Man, this chapter did not go how I plan and I’m already re-thinking my plan for this story. Also, in Legends, Grand Moff Wilhuff Tarkin had a wife, Thalassa Tarkin nee Motti (her cousin was Conan Motti aka Admiral Motti aka the one who got Force-choked to death by Vader which led to Captain Piett becoming Admiral Piett), that he married for power, while he fell in love with his mistress, Natasi Daala. Daala became quite an illustrious figure after Tarkin’s death where I would argue that she almost eclipses him. At least in Legends. 
> 
> I had a lot of fun writing the Brendol bits because I get to pick characters that he would normally not interact with. My plan is next chapter will be Han. Boy, it may end in a fistfight or not how I expected it to. 
> 
> Next chapter: The Dead-Star Dragon continues his water education. And A+ (C-) parenting.


	13. The Captain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dead-Star Dragon formally begins his swimming lessons. Meanwhile, Brendol interacts with Han Solo, while Anakin and Dooku watch them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe.
> 
> This is the first time I wrote Han Solo as a character and not just as a mention. Force, he’s harder to write than Luke and Leia…I think I may have channeled more Deckard into him than actual Han Solo.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Twelve

+**

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Shout by Tears for Fears

+**

            The Dead-Star Dragon is by the bathing pool and completely naked. The human is also by the pool and completely naked too. As disgusted as the dragon-prince is by human flesh, he knows that he and the human have to bathe or else they will become more disgusting.

“Okay, we’re going to start very small because simply tossing you into the deep-end will probably not work.” The Dead-Star Dragon narrows his golden eyes at the human’s piss-poor attempt at a joke.

The human goes over to the edge of the bathing-pool and sits on the ledge with his knees sticking into his chest. The human then gestures for the dragon-prince to follow.

 _I’m not some Sith Hound that will do as he commands!_ But he goes over there anyways.

“Now, sit down with me, please.” _Why does he continues using manners with a beast such as myself?_ The Dead-Star Dragon frowns, not certain which parts of the question were his.

The dragon-prince sits down and mimics the human’s posture.

“Okay, now watch me.” The human then slowly, like a salted snail, pries his legs from his chest and puts his lily-white feet into the bathwater. The Dead-Star Dragon waits with bated breath for the human to do more.

“All I want you to do is to put your feet in the water, nothing else.” The human says gently like he’s preparing himself for an oncoming tantrum. The dragon-prince rolls his eyes.

 _How simple of him! Does he really think I’m paralyzed with fear of the water that I won’t let my fleshy feet touch the water? Ha! I’ll prove him wrong like he always is!_ With newfound determination, the Dead-Star Dragon sets himself to work.

He pushes his right leg away from his chest and towards the water. It takes nearly a minute of him forcing that leg down and one foot into the water.

Then, he does the same for the other leg.

 _My feet are in the water. What’s the point of this?_ The dragon-prince flicks his golden eyes to the human for clarity.

“How does the water feel?” The dragon-prince stares blankly at him.

“It’s water. It’s wet. It’s warm.” The human nods.

“How do _you_ feel?” The Dead-Star Dragon thinks. _Um, confused? I’m not scared. I’m not going to drown in the water like this……the water is non-threatening._

“Safe.” The dragon-prince answers. The human smiles and lays back.

The Dead-Star Dragon spends the remainder of the lesson with his feet in the water, feeling safe.

+

Brendol Hux took another nap when Luke left. He could almost believe that the drugs in his IV are the cause of his drowsiness, but he is a realist when it comes to himself. And the answer was quite obvious: he was getting old.

His stomach than gurgles like a growling dragon.

 _Pfassk, I’m hungry! But I can’t really walk out of here without getting shot!_ He presumes that the Senator must have guards outside the room. Because no one would let a man who nearly two killed people unattended in a school with younglings.

 _Force, I hope she has guards! She’s not stupid; she’s kind of like Sloane, you know if Sloane was a mother. For all the times Grand Admiral Sloane has complained about my treatment of Armitage, she has never once volunteered to take him under her wing._ He grimaces at how Armitage would’ve turned out if raised by her.

 _Probably would’ve been a perfect soldier for the Order, inside and out. He would’ve turned out dull._ He prefers Armitage being who he is now. A child that loved to find magic in everything and everyone.

 _Innocence. He is innocent._ He can recall an auld moment from his affair with Jedi Desolous when Desolous claimed that he was innocent. Brendol remembers that his response was a bark of cold laughter that aggravated Desolous’s Jedi sensibilities.

 _I was innocent for a time, and then…I wasn’t. Desolous was innocent, even though he was older than me. Well, at least until he Fell. Desolous never said I was the reason for his Fall, but he never said I wasn’t._ He remembers the butterflies of guilt that would swarm him when Desolous came a-calling in the early years of their relationship.

 _I’ve been thinking about him lately. Too much. Then again, he’s dead, and it seems so much simpler to think about the dead than the gone._ He tries to think about Rama, tries to imagine finding him, but it hurts him. It hurts him more than Rama telling him to take Armitage and go with Mercury Swift.

 _“The dreams of youth are the regrets of maturity.” I am no longer young, but I still dream._ But he is a man full of regrets.

“Mother Night! Fold your dark arms about me. Protect me in your black embrace. I sit alone, an impotent exile, whilst this force, this presence, returns to torment me!” He releases his pent-up anguish in one mighty Tim Curry impression.

And Mother Night answers….

In the form of Han Solo standing in the doorway with an expression that says he heard everything.

*

  _“Mother Night! Fold your dark arms about me. Protect me in your black embrace. I sit alone, an impotent exile, whilst this force, this presence, returns to torment me!”_

“Okay....” Anakin turns to Dooku, expecting a full explanation for this.

“What makes you think I know more than you about this?”

“Well, you’re very….erudite. And whatever he just said sounds like Sith poetry, so I thought maybe you knew where it was from.” Anakin phrases his messy thoughts as delicately as possible so not to insult Dooku.

“If it is Sith poetry, then I never came across that particularly piece.”

“…..Did Palpatine ever say something like that to you?” Dooku shakes his head.

“No, Anakin, neither Palpatine nor Sidious said anything like that in my presence. I should be asking you that since you spent nearly twenty-four years as his Apprentice.” Anakin looks away. _I never really paid attention whenever he launched into his beloved arts; I was more drawn to the art of his ass!_

But Anakin is mature.

“………..Let’s just keep watching the ginger weirdo.”

*

Brendol can see a man, older than the Skywalker Twins, with a tray of mouthwatering food. He can see some kind of meat coated with rich brown gravy and caramelized onions and carrots on top of a bed of mashed tubers.

 _I can smell the garlic in the tubers from here!_ He really hopes that man is not going to turn around and walk the fuck away with the food.

“Is that grilled meat?” He asks, hoping that the man goes along with it and completely forgets what he heard moments ago.

“No. This is a Shaak pot roast.” _Shaak pot roast? I think I had that once. Shaaks are some kind of Naboo animal, so Rama probably made it. I need to ask Armitage about it; he remembers every meal that Rama cooked. Rama’s spell has yet to be broken._ The thought casts a fleeting pall over his appetite.

“It’s for me, right?” The man gives him a bored look like the answer is obvious. The man comes over and hands him the tray. He turns away from him with the intention of leaving Brendol alone with his memories.

“What’s your name?” He quickly blurts out.  

“Solo. Han Solo.” Han answers. _Han Solo? He’s a Captain for the New Republic, even though he could’ve became General. He pilots the Millennium Falcon and is married to Leia Organa. And his co-pilot is………a Wookie. Oh kark, I think I shot his co-pilot!_

“Is your co-pilot nominal?” Han raises an eyebrow that reminds Brendol of Tarkin whenever one of the aides asked something stupid.

“You wouldn’t be alive if he wasn’t.” Han walks out before Brendol can ask any more questions. Brendol looks down at his tray feeling like he should be embarrassed.

 _It’s not like I can do anything about it, might as well eat!_ Brendol then picks up a forkful of mashed tubers and begins to eat.

+

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- No links this time. 
> 
> At first, I was going to add one last scene of Dooku and Anakin at the end, but then I cut it out because it just didn’t fit with the rest of the story. 
> 
> I had to think really hard about Han and Brendol interacting with each other. Han, to me, doesn’t really strike me as someone who would converse with a complete stranger, especially one that just harmed essentially his best friend, unless he knows he’ll get something out of it. Which I got from his initial interactions with Luke and Ben Kenobi. What can he get out of Brendol? Nothing since Brendol doesn’t know where the missing children are and he’s certainly not going to hire Han for a job in the foreseeable future. So Han doesn’t want to waste his time, time that he can be using to find his son and comfort his family, for Brendol. 
> 
> Also, odd little tibit: Han, according to Legends/EU, is about 10 years older than Luke and Leia, while Brendol is about 19 years older than the Skywalker Twins in my stories. And, apparently from the Wookie, Hand didn’t learn about his parents until he was an adult and was descended from King Berethron e Solo of Corellia who introduced democracy to the system. So Ben Solo/Prince Amidala is royal on both sides of his family. 
> 
> Next time: Dead-Star Dragon and Ben make some real progress, while the Skywalker-Solo-Organa family deal with Brendol.


	14. The Claws

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Original Trio have a discussion about the Hux family. Meanwhile, it’s bath time for Armitage and the Dead-Star Dragon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe.
> 
> This is a short chapter, but I’m planning the next chapter to be more meaty and plot-driven.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Thirteen

+***

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Samhain (Celtic Lyra) by Thomas and Lazarus

+***

            Han Solo returns to the Great Kitchen, dubbed so by Ben when the Praxeum was still under construction, and sees Luke still reading through his stacks of moldy, musky tomes from the Archives, while Leia is furiously reading through her messages from her aide, Winter, regarding events in the Senate. Neither of them have touched their Shaak pot roast.

He goes and gets himself a bowl, and then goes to sit with them at their table.

“Did the Commandant say anything to you?” Leia asks before Han’s fork touches the Shaak.

“He was reciting a strange prayer.”

“A prayer?” Luke looks up from his dusty tome.

“Something about Mother Night and being in her embrace.” Han mutters and quickly shovels a forkful of Shaak into his mouth.  

“Luke, does Mother Night have something to do with the Dark Side?” Leia asks Luke.

“Not to my knowledge; She could be a goddess from the Unknown Regions.” Leia frowns.

“Atheism was the unofficial religion of the Empire; I presume the First Order would uphold that Imperial tradition.”

“Or Mother Night could be the name of his latest mistress.” Han suggests and smirks as two red dots appear on Luke’s cheeks.

“No, I don’t think that’s the case since he had a Jedi boyfriend during the Clone Wars.” Han shrugs and continues eating, while Leia looks curiously at Luke.

“Luke, it’s quite possible that the Commandant plays both fields.” Luke shakes his head.

“The Force is strongly telling me that he has never been interested in the opposite sex.” Leia and Han shoot skeptical looks at him.

“When it comes to the sexuality, the Force reveals all.” Luke parrots from a memory that makes half his lips twist in sadness and the other half in amusement.

+

After the swimming lesson, Armitage Hux and the Dead-Star Dragon got out of the water and had their dinner of roasted lizards and clean water. They then went back to the bathing pool and have their bath.

 _His grip is looser than usual, well, enough for me to not feel like my ribs will crack. If he keeps participating in the swimming lessons, maybe he’ll be able to bathe himself._ The dragon-prince hears from the human as the human bathes him.

“Who burned you?” The Dead-Star Dragon asks as the human continues washing him with his burnt hand.

“A dragon. It was kind of like you.” The human teases, but the Dead-Star Dragon feels his insides twist like he ate an uncooked lizard.

“And you killed it.” The human stops bathing him.

“Yes, I did. After I did it, I felt awful.” The Dead-Star Dragon can smell guilt and anxiety from the human.

“Why?”

“Because I thought I killed the last of its kind; it’s like killing a unicorn!” The Dead-Star Dragon looks into the human’s eyes, which he doesn’t like to when he’s being bathed by him since it would be acknowledging the human as an equal. The human’s eyes are watery blue.

“Why would it be the last of its kind? There are plenty of dragons in the galaxy.” The human shakes his peach-fuzz head, causing a sudsy bubble to fall into the water.

“The Great Dragon is the last true dragon in the galaxy. The rest of the dragons are just giant reptiles!” The Dead-Star Dragon growls, which causes the human to roll his eyes.

“Excluding you, though I don’t know what kind of dragon you are.” The human amends and waits for an answer from the dragon-prince.

“I’m the Dead-Star Dragon.” The dragon-prince states without any flourish.

“So are you a dragon that eats dying stars?” The Dead-Star Dragon’s serpentine pupils constrict like a feral animal’s.  

“I eat stars that believed themselves worthy of walking across the sky. I eat stars that strove to be noble like the other stars because all he ever wanted was their acceptance.” The human squirms as the dragon-prince digs his nails into his back like spears.  

“Ow! Did your nails grow four centimeters!?” The dragon-prince pulls one hand back from the human’s back and sees that his nails have grown with blood speckling the tips.

 _They look like claws. Almost like my claws!_ The Dead-Star Dragon feels his throat tighten like he’s thirsty. 

“D-Did you use the Force to grow your nails?” _I must have because the human body didn’t have these claws to begin with! Wait, does that mean I can grow my fangs!?_ Excitement grips the dragon-prince and he closes his eyes and imagines his fangs.

“………Do you need to use the ‘fresher?” The human asks after a minute. The Dragon-Prince opens his eyes and sees a slightly disgusted look on the human’s face.

“Do I have fangs?” The dragon-prince asks and opens his mouth. The human peers inside the gaping maw.

“Aside from the human canines, no. I guess you can only use the Force for fire and nails.” The Dead-Star Dragon groans in disappointment and buries his head in the human’s twiggy shoulder.

“Once you get a grasp on the Force, you might be able to fly one day!” The Dead-Star Dragon snorts at the human’s enthusiasm, but his mind cannot help but conjure hope.

_One day, we’ll fly away together._

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- No links this time. 
> 
> Here is the link to the song and video that semi-inspired this chapter: [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TOnosezkxsw&index=1&list=FLDUNpQvIuyyRAQhQJw8Hu4A)
> 
> The Original Trio was probably the hardest part to write because I have never written them all together in one location before. Also, if any of you are wondering if Winter is an OC; she is not. In fact, she’s pretty much Leia’s sister in Legends/AU because Bail and Breha actually adopted, or rather became guardians of, several children shortly after Leia was adopted. But, really the only children to note and got any attention were Leia and Winter; Leia was quite a tomboy growing up, which is why many, many people confused Winter with her since Winter acted like a prim and proper princess. Winter was an Intelligence agent for the Rebellion and eventually marries Tycho Celchu, who was a Rebel pilot during the war. 
> 
> The next chapter will have Brendol interact with Chewie, Armitage making a request to Exar Kun, and Anakin and Dooku still trying to figure out who was Brendol’s Jedi boyfriend.


	15. The Tangled Web

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The Dead-Star Dragon wants his form back, while Brendol wallows in the past.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe.
> 
> I am an unapologetic fan of Revolutionary Girl Utena.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Fourteen

+****

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- The God of Sleep Has Made His House by Current 93

+****

            The Dead-Star Dragon did not participate in the lessons on meditation and philosophy because he did not see them aiding his goal of returning to his draconian glory. But as he lay lying on his sleeping pallet right next to a drooling Armitage, he reflects on his lot in life.

 _I can use the Force to make fire and elongate my nails. But I know the Force can be used for other means._ As hard as he tries, he cannot wholly ignore what the Sith Spirit spouts in his stupid philosophy lessons.

 _The Dark Side can alter appearances of the unfortunate Sith, make them paler, make their eyes yellow, make their faces uglier, but also make their nails longer. I want my scales, I want my wings, I want my horns, I want my tail, I want to be me again!_ He brings a clawed hand to the back of his other clawed hand; he scratches viciously, hoping for scales to sprout in place of human flesh.

All he gets are five bleeding lines.

 _Clearly, scraping off the human flesh isn’t the way to go. But I don’t know what else to do!_ He bites down on his lips, holding back a frustrated sob.

 _NO! I WON’T SHED TEARS! I’M THE DEAD-STAR DRAGON!_ He reminds himself and wipes away the tears in his eyes.

_I need…………help._

+

“Beautiful….” The Sith Spirit marvels at the human’s Sith Sword, while the human is in his arms.

“As your noble heart has led you this far…” The Dead-Star Dragon watches as the human lays his white hand on the Sith Spirit’s chest as the Sith Spirit hoists up his blade in the musty air. “…you’ve proven yourself to truly be my princess.”

“A sword is unsuited for you from now on.” The Sith Spirit patronizes the human.  

“I shall take up this sword. And from this day forward, I shall protect you.” The dragon-prince digs his claws into his palms.

“And then what?” The human leans his head a little closer to the Sith Spirit.

“We’ll be happy. Eternity will be ours…and we shall love each other forever.” Blood drips from the enclosed fists.

“And together, as prince and princess, we’ll live in the castle…forever and ever.” The Sith Spirit brings his face closer for the kiss.

“What’s wrong?” The human pulls his face away and looks at the Dead-Star Dragon.

“We’ll be living happily in the castle…So, what happens to Himemiya?” The dragon-prince feels himself burn at the human’s notice.

“She will remain the Rose Bride. Forever and ever…” The Sith Spirit trails off, while the human looks at him with horror and guilt.

There’s a long pause like a flashback is playing.

 _That’s right. There’s no way I can do that._ The human thinks loudly and wrestles his sword from the Sith Spirit.

“What are you doing?!” The Sith Spirit demands. “Girls shouldn’t brandish swords like that.”

“I’m going to free Himemiya from you!” The look of pure determination on the human’s face makes the Dead-Star Dragon feel as though he were wading in the bathing-pool, content and safe.

“Truly, you are valiant…” The Sith Spirit’s frown morphs into a smirk. “I never thought you’d get this far.”

“What do you mean?” The human demands.

“Still, as I said years ago, with the passage of time…you’ve lost the pure soul that wished only to be a prince.” The human’s watery eyes are aflame with determination.

“Swords don’t really go with dresses, do they?” The Sith Spirit mocks. “Looking at you reminds me of what I used to be.”

“However…” The Sith Spirit hesitates. “For that reason, you cannot save Anthy.”

“In the end, both the prince…” The human narrows his eyes. “…and the castle where eternity dwells are just illusions. I shall now reveal reality to you.”

“Reality?”

“The End of the World.”

The Sith Spirit summons his lightsaber from his sarcophagus and ignites it.

Red and silver clash.

*

 _I should’ve asked during the stupid moving meditation routine, but I couldn’t say a damn word. Especially when the human was actually being……powerful. He just kept on doing backflips and thrusts while the stupid Sith Spirit struggled against him!_ The dragon-prince nearly purred when the human used his own body to protect him.

 _But of course it was all for show! And the human wasn’t going to kill the blasted Sith Spirit. Because that would mean no more praises for the human to drool over! He was being so strong and he just had to be weak in his stupid knees FOR THE STUPID SITH SPIRIT! AUGHHHHHHH!_ His claws sink right into the human’s bare feet as the human is in mid-crunch.

“OWOWOWOWOOW!!! DEAD-STAR!!” The human screams at him. The Dead-Star Dragon scrambles back with the human’s blood under his nails.

The Sith Spirit comes over and looks down at the human’s gored feet.

“Looks like you won’t be doing laps today.” Thus concludes their combat lesson for the day.

*

“Back when I was alive and a jug-eared Initiate, Gray Jedi were permitted in this galaxy.” The Sith Spirit starts out.

“Permitted? So this was before The Great Exile?” The human asks.

“The Great Exile?” The Sith Spirit’s gray eyes look the human in his green eyes.

 “That’s what the Grays called their Jedi expulsion.” The human bashfully clarifies.

“Ah. But they weren’t all expelled at once and they all were certainly not Jedi.” The human nods and writes the Sith Spirit’s answer down.

“Gray Jedi have been around since the followers of Ashla and Bogan, and maybe Bendu, were going to war for their Force. Gray Jedi were typically the ones that disobeyed the Council and were borderline moral relativists.” The Sith Spirit pauses for rhetorical effect.

“To quote Jedi Chief Librarian Quist, ‘Gray Jedi make compromises, cut corners, and hide their actions from scrutiny, all under the assumption that their experience makes them authorities on policy. They are mavericks who are difficult to control, but can be valued members of the Order after they have been persuaded to follow the established hierarchy.’”

“Consider our last lesson about loyalty and what it means to the Jedi and Sith, why would the Jedi, who demand unwavering loyalty to the Light and obedience to the Code, tolerate the gray Jedi?” The Sith Spirit proposes to the human.

“They needed someone to do their dirty work?” The human suggests.

“No, because that’s what the Jedi Shadows were for.” The human smirks at that truthful jab.

“…….Quist called them mavericks, but valued members once they have been _persuaded_ to follow the higher-ups. I believe that the Gray Jedi are willing to try things with the Force that a consummate Jedi wouldn’t; they think outside of the box and possibly can relate to the general public better if their egos permit so.” The Sith Spirit nods.

“Even during the Clone Wars, there were Gray Jedi still in the Order. There were the Teepo Paladins who believed on using the Force as much as possible to the point of wearing sensory-depriving devices to connect with the Force more. From the Teepo Paladins, there were the Gray Paladins who believed in using the Force when it was only necessary and typically with their weapons. And then there were the Green Jedi.” _Green? Like a stinger-lizard? Were they Lizard Jedi?_ The dragon-prince wonders.

“The Green Jedi? Like from the Lantern Corps.?” The Sith Spirit snorts at that last part and mutters in amazement how comics seem to stand the test of time.

“No, unfortunately. They were the most independent of the Gray Jedi from the Order, and even had their own Council. The Green Jedi were also known as Corellian Jedi because they were entirely based on Corellia, but they got the _Green_ for wearing green robes to distinguish themselves from their fellow drab Jedi. They also allowed themselves families.” The human turns his head to the dragon-prince.

“Maybe your parents should’ve taken you to the Green Jedi for schooling!” The human mildly teases, but the dragon-prince shifts uncomfortably in his seat.

“I don’t think that would’ve been possible given the most recent Jedi Purge. Through the Force, I felt many, many Gray Jedi die by the hands of the Empire, even the Green when the Green couldn’t give a rat-monkey’s ass about worlds outside of Corellia’s reach. However, there were survivors who went into hiding and have no plans to come out.” The human grimaces.

“Even with the New Republic, most of the Gray Jedi and even Jedi won’t return to the galactic spotlight; the Republic, through Darth Sidious, betrayed them, massacred them, and forced them out. I doubt any of them want to go back to a government that could betray them like the last one.” The Dead-Star Dragon feels his right arm shoot up before he can stop it.

“Yes, Ben?” The Dead-Star Dragon swallows back a growl and reminds himself of his goal.

“Did any of the Grays had the power to change their form?” The Sith Spirit bites his bottom lip as though he is racking his incorporeal mind for the answer.

“Unless they were Proteans, Polydroxol, Stennes Shifters, Shi’ido, or Clawdites, then no. I know that there are Sith spells that could allow for shape-shifting, but those are temporary.” The Dead-Star Dragon swallows a disappointed lump down.

“What about Darth Nihilus? He changed from a human to a Shadow Man!” The human interjects. The dragon-prince looks at the human as though he were his last hope.

“Yes. I must confess I am foggy on him since he wasn’t the most….prolific writer. Care to tell us his birth?” The human grins with so much pride that the Dead-Star Dragon could gag. The human gets up, winces as he walks up to where the Sith Spirit is floating, and turns to face the Dead-Star Dragon as though he were a crowd.

“A long, long time ago…”

*

_“There was a war between the Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders and the Old Republic. The war ravaged many systems to the point where the people wondered dubiously what more the war can do. And their curiosities were answered in the form of Malachor V.” Brendol slowly cracks an eye open and sees his lover, au natural._

_He sees his lover lounging languidly on his sleeping wear like a nest. The moonlight is streaming through the chilled windows and bathing his lover with its blessings._

_The sardonic smirk twisting those thin lips lets Brendol know that he’s thinking too loudly._

_But his lover continues his story._

_“Jedi, Mandalorians, and civilians raged against each other on Malachor’s green surface. The Force did not care about this war for there was only one outcome to a war: mass death. But still they aided their followers the best they could.” He curls one strand of his long, white hair and spins the strands into a tangle web._

_“Ashla had the Mass Shadow Generator and that was used to decimate the planet and the warriors on its surface. The Old Republic won, the Mandalorians fractured, and those on Malachor obliterated.” He combs his web, hooking the silken strands onto the black metal bedframe._

_“There was a man, dark of hair, dark of eyes, light of skin. The man had family and friends. The man, his family, and his friends were on Malachor V. The man saw the shadows that tore apart Malachor, that tore his family and friends apart, that tore him apart. The man died like everyone else on that shadowy hellscape. But the man came back again.” The web catches the moonlight._

_“While Ashla went away after her side won, Bogan continued to watch the man. Waiting with bated breath for the man to come back again. The man pieced himself together with the shadows through sheer will. The shadows became the man, and the Shadow Man stole Bogan’s breath.” The web strangles the moonlight._

_“When the Shadow Man pieced together corpses of ships together to get off Malachor, Bogan decided that he will be his Dark Lord. His most beloved…”_

*

“…His Darth Nihilus!” The human throws his hands up in the air like he’s trying to summon lightning. The Sith Spirit gives a small round of applause, while the Dead-Star Dragon stares blankly at him.

“……..It takes a planet-destroying weapon and a strong will for Nihilus to become Darth Nihilus.” The Dead-Star Dragon processes slowly.

“Don’t forget blatant favoritism; Bogan was quite essential in his rebirth. Or really Ashla since it was her weapon.” The dragon-prince frowns.

“So for me to change my form, I would have to be utterly destroyed and somehow piece myself together again?” The human opens his mouth to assure him otherwise, but then closes it.

“That’s just one instance though, and I doubt even Bogan believed it would work.” The Sith Spirit further dashes his hopes. The dragon-prince’s bottom lip trembles like he’s about to cry.

“But I bet if you studied the Force and honed your abilities, you’ll be able to gain the power you had as a dragon.” The human smiles warmly. The dragon-prince’s yellow eyes dilate with an epiphany.

 _If I can’t have my body, then I shall have my power!_  

+

_With the death of the moonlight, there’s nothing protecting them from the darkness. They smile savagely; they have no reason to fear the darkness. They have each other._

_Brendol moves closer to his lover in the darkness._

_Till they are scarred skin to scarred skin._

_“My Bren, no comment on the story?” His lover’s reedy voice tickles his bones._

_“What right do I have? I’m not the father, you are.” He reminds his lover with a quick nip at his long nose._

_“You could be if you desire so.” His lover only kisses him for what feels like an aeon._

_“I only desire you. And you desire the child.” His voice rasps with love._

_“I desire more than that.” His lover grabs one of Brendol’s pawing hands and sets it on his bloated belly._

_“Prince of Darkness, what more do you desire?” Brendol feels a soft kick against his hand._

_“I want you to sing for us, my Bren.”_

_They share true love’s kiss._

_“Yes, Rama.”_

The dream-memory ends, and Brendol finds himself in the healing bed, alone. He props himself up and cranes his head upwards towards the windowless windows. He can see the stars twinkling in the nighttime sky on Yavin. But there’s no moon.

He lays back down and stares at the brown-stone wall.

 _I lost Rama and, now, his child._ His throat tightens, but his eyes remain dry.

 _What can I do?_ He thinks back about the Senator’s prognosis on his condition. He’d make a full recovery in three weeks. And he cannot run around until he’s fully healed.

 _“I want you to sing for us, my Bren.”_ The memory of Rama’s cool, princely request plays once more in his mind.

And he figures out what he can do, he sings:  

_“In a strange land._

_The god of sleep._

_Has made his house._

_Of marvellous design._

_Under a hill._

_There is a cave._

_Which of the sun._

_May nothing have._

_So that no man._

_May know aright._

_The point between._

_The day and the night._

_So that inward._

_There is no light._

_And so to speak._

_Of that without._

_There stands no_

_Great tree_

_Near about._

_Whereupon might._

_Crow or magpie alight._

_To call or to cry.”_

He pauses his crooning for some water by his bedside. The water is cold to the touch in the midst of the jungle’s humidity. He figures it must be the work of the metal pitcher.

_“There is no cock_

_To crow the day._

_Neither beast which._

_Might noise make._

_Upon the hill._

_But all around._

_There is growing._

_On the ground._

_Poppy which bears._

_The seed of sleep._

_A still water._

_All the time._

_Is running over._

_The small stones._

_And it gives._

_Great desire._

_To sleep._

_To sleep…”_

*

_“And thus full of delight,_

_Sleep has his house.”_

Armitage opens his eyes and sits up in a sweat like he has had a nightmare. He looks around and hears the dragon-prince snoring like a clamberwolf, beastly and congested, in the dark.

 _It couldn’t be him. Exar Kun then?_ He slips out of his sleeping pallet and walks into the dimly lit hallway.

He makes his bandaged feet slap against the floor for he cannot stand silence in the middle of the night.

He reaches Exar Kun’s room and sees the red crystal glowing faintly.

“Exar Kun?” He calls out. The Sith Spirit passes through his sarcophagus like he’s walking through a door.

“Yes, _Armitage_?” His cheeks turn ruby red from the way Kun plays with his name. Along with the realization that this is the first time he and Kun have been alone together.

“Were you singing?” Kun raises a thick, ghostly brow.

“No, I was tone-deaf in life and I’m tone-deaf in death.” The Sith Spirit jokes, but this makes Armitage frowns.

“I woke up to someone singing, and Dead-Star’s just snoring.” The Sith Spirit makes a thoughtful _hmm_ sound.

“Perhaps, it was the Force.” Armitage snorts.

“You can see Force-ghosts, so perhaps you’re not that much of a null.” Armitage shakes his head stubbornly.

“I can see Force-ghosts because of my partially mutated genes. I’m a Force-null.” A smirk stretches across Kun’s plush lips, making Armitage feel like he’s been zapped by lightning.

“Just because you’re a Force-null that doesn’t mean the Force can’t communicate with you.” _Or use me_. Armitage thinks about the Emperor and all the Force-nulls he used in his pursuit of unlimited power.

“If the Force wants to communicate with me, then why through singing?”

“The Force is accommodating to one’s profound talents.” Armitage looks bashfully away.

“But the voice sounded human, why would the Force sound human? They could’ve gone farther and had Bowman show up.” _I really wish I brought my datapad; I miss Keir Duella’s sky-blue eyes. Kriff, I just miss the sky in general._

“What did you hear?”

“And thus full of delight / Sleep has his house.” Armitage repeats perfectly from memory, but his mind itches with familiarity.

“Does that mean anything to you?” Armitage purses his lips and tries to place where he had heard those lyrics before.

 _Where have heard those lyrics before? I know it’s from some band that’s poetical. Oh, Force, this is going to bother me all night!_ He threads his hands through his hair, half-tempted to pull out a few strands.

“They do. I know they’re from a song that I have heard before, but not in a very long time!” He groans in frustration as his memory fails him in this task. _I can remember all the ranks in the Empire, but I can’t remember a band?_

“Perhaps, you’ll remember it later. It is quite late.” _And you should be asleep_. He can hear the paternal subtext in Kun’s teasing voice.

“Yeah, maybe later.” Armitage mutters. He turns to return to the bathing room and the snoring dragon-prince.

“You better get your rest for tomorrow.” Armitage cocks his head back and sees Kun smiling cryptically.

“Goodnight.” Armitage says, choosing to return to bed and ask questions in the morning. Kun watches his disciple leave and returns to his sarcophagus.

_Is the Force truly contacting him? It has to be because there’s no way a Force-user can breach my tomb without my notice. I will unravel this mystery in due time, but I must rest for tomorrow. I will need all my energy for tomorrow._

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- Here is the link. 
> 
> Here is the link to the version of “The God of Sleep Has Made His House” by Current 93. I do like some of Current 93’s songs if only because they sound like poetry being sung. I always imagined my version of Brendol listening to Current 93 when he’s melancholic like he is in this chapter. It’s dark and he’s alone: [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g3Q8__XXPTU)
> 
> I miss writing long chapters for this story and I finally got to again. When I first started out this story, I thought I was going to end the story somewhere around here, but the tale is still growing. I’m not sure which chapter I’m going to end it, but there will be an end. Just not as soon as I think. 
> 
> Also, clamberwolves are real in the New Canon since the roleplaying game they came from was released in July 2016. So I actually have something from New Canon in this; that’s kind of like a miracle for me. 
> 
> Anyways next chapter will be about Exar Kun’s “surprise” and the Force Ghosts finally get the answer they were seeking.


	16. The Sun

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hux and Dead-Star finally see the sun, and more talking between Luke and Brendol.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I have finally watched TLJ and it’s my favorite out of the Sequels so far. Am I going to incorporate into my stories? Probably not since my stories veer so far into AU/EU that TLJ would not have happened, and neither would TFA for that matter.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Fifteen

+*****

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Mermaids by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds

+*****

            Armitage wakes up with a heavy weight on his chest that likes digging his knobby knees into his ribs. He lets out a melodramatic wheeze and gets a warning growl. But he still refuses to open his eyes.

“Human, where did you go last night?” The dragon-prince demands chillingly like all the fire in his gullet has been replaced with ice.

“My name is not Human.” He chides Dead-Star, knowing full well that this will incense the dragon-prince. He feels the dragon-prince’s nails rest on the sides of his face.

“My claws are back. I can tear your face off for your insolence.” Armitage snorts and puts his hands on top of Dead-Star’s. He then presses down, intending for the claws to dig into his face. But the dragon-prince pulls them quickly away as though he were stung by a lizard.

“But you can’t.” He feels the dragon-prince shaking like he’s about to let loose a might roar.

“…………O-Open your eyes!” _Did he just stuttered? He’s so mad at me!_ He opens his eyes and gasps.

“Oh……..I’m sorry.” The dragon-prince’s big nose is red and dribbling, while the yellow eyes are filled to the brim with unshed tears.

“D-Did you and the Sith Spirit plan to kill me?” Dead-Star whispers quite wretchedly.

“No, oh no, Dead-Star! We weren’t doing that at all, honest!” Armitage tries to sit up, but the Dead-Star refuses to get off his chest.

“B-But I thought you w-wanted that S-Skywalker runt back!” There’s a loud snort as the dragon-prince tries to stop his nose from dribbling.

“Oh, I wouldn’t mind the Prince back, but I don’t want you die. Can’t you and him share a body like…………..Jean Grey and Phoenix!” The dragon-prince looks at him blankly with his tears and snot on pause.

 “Jean Grey was one of the founding members of the X-Men, a group of mutant superheroes that help save other mutants and their death-prone world. She was kind and smart and had red hair like me, but she was beautiful!” The dragon-prince frowns like he could be still confused or out of disapproval for Armitage’s self-deprecation.

“One day, the X-Men had to go to space for another mission. When coming back, their shuttle gets damaged, and Jean has to pilot which causes her to be exposed to a fatal amount of radiation. You see Jean’s mutant power is telepathy and telekinesis; she’s kind of like a Force-user except not bound to the whims of Cosmic Dicks.” The dragon-prince smiles at him, which encourages Armitage to continue.

“So Jean uses her telepathy to reach out for a power to save her friends even at the cost of herself. The Phoenix Force, moved by her dedication and love, answers her call and enters her body. She becomes the Phoenix and saves her friends.”

“So…..did Jean and the Phoenix Force always get along?” Dead-Star asks.

“Not always because they were both quite different like you and the Prince, but they were always able to come together and save the day!” _I left out the Dark Phoenix saga, all her deaths, Wolverine, Scott’s telepathic adultery with Emma Frost, White Phoenix of the Crown, and a whole lot more, but I think I got my point across!_

“………Maybe……….we………” The dragon-prince trails off.

“Yes, you two could work together! I doubt the Prince could ever breathe fire on his own, while you, Dead-Star, could become more…….friendly!” Dead-Star pouts for a moment, but then chews on his bottom lip like he’s thinking it over.

“………..I don’t think we can. I……hurt him.”

“Perhaps, if you apologize, then he’ll forgive you!” Dead-Star stiffens and then snarls at him. He digs his knees viciously into his ribs one last time before getting off his chest.

“……….I believe that you and the Sith Spirit are not plotting to kill me. Today.” Dead-Star storms off for the ‘fresher, while Armitage sighs.

_Perhaps, I should’ve used Jamie and Blue Beetle…_

+

_Flip, flip, flip, flip_

Brendol hears but refuses to open his eyes.

_Flip, flip, flip, flip_

He presumes the noise will go away soon.

_Flip, flip, flip, flip_

He sighs through his nose.

_Flip, flip, flip, flip!_

“You know if you stopped reading a million meters a minute, you might find what you’re looking for.” He finally announces.

“You know if you open your eyes, you might wake up.” Luke’s teasing reminds him of a Master being a smartass to their Padawan. _Force, he’s too young to take that tone with me!_

“I open my eyes when I _feel_ like being awake.” _I was having such a good dreamless sleep…_

“So you talk in your sleep?”

“Apparently so.” _And I’m talking back like a youngling._

“You should conserve your energy.” _Flip, flip._

“For what? There’s nothing else for me to do.” _Flip._

“You aren’t allowed to get out of the bed for another three weeks.” _And then I get to have six weeks of physical therapy. Again!_

“Do you have any books I can read?” _Fli—_

“Books? All I have are sacred Jedi texts, most of which are barely legible.” The deadpan tone in Luke’s voice tickles Brendol into a manic giggle fit.

“You really should open your eyes; you look like a madman.” _Coming from the man whose father murdered some younglings and a lot of Jedi on the flimsy promise from a Sith Lord that he can save his idealistic wife from death in childbirth! In a galaxy with bacta and med-droids! Oh, Force, I wish Rama was here to tell him that!_

“He! he! he! I am a madman!” _Why else would I still be with the FO?_ He has to bite down on his tongue to keep that from slipping out.

“………….Is that why you were singing in the middle of the night?” His laughing fit shrivels like a sea-mouse on Tatooine.

“……..No, I woke up from a……….I needed to get back to sleep again.”

“Was it a lullaby?” Luke’s boyish voice is filled with childish curiosity.

“No…..I don’t think it is. I need to look that up on my red datapad.” _Which is on my ship, in Armitage’s bag on the co-pilot’s seat. Along with all of his supplies. He’s still a child for making such a mistake._

“The one that is so ancient an astromech can’t even get into it?” His grin warps the lines on his face, turning him into an old devil. 

“That’d be the one. It’s my favorite source of entertainment.”

“I tried typing in a password, but it’s in a language that not even Threepio knows.” Brendol tsks like an impatient schoolmaster with a recalcitrant youngling.     

“Of course, he wouldn’t. The password is in Pau’an.” _Thump!_

“Pau’an? Did you somehow came into contact with a traveling Pau’an?”

“Well, yeah, my boyfriend was a Pau’an. And he had to travel a lot because he was a Jedi.”

*

“Pau’an?” Dooku strokes his beard, trying to recall his run-ins in the Jedi Order.

“Pau’an.” Anakin feels the answer is at the very tip of his tongue.

“A Pau’an who fought during the Clone Wars.” Dooku reminds him and frowns. Anakin knows that frown indicates Dooku didn’t know the Pau’an. But Anakin feels in his invisible gut that he knows the Pau’an. That he knows the Jedi. That he knows those yellow eyes…

“………………………OH MY FORCE!!!!!!!” Anakin screams from his epiphany, killing Dooku’s hearing for a second time.

“………….” Dooku has too much dignified anger to ask about the why behind Anakin’s latest outburst.

“I KNOW HIM!!!”

“Then, stop shouting.”

“He was my Grand Inquisitor! He was the only Pau’an in the Jedi Order at the time and was a Temple Guard before his Fall.”

“Great, so we now know the who. But do you know _where_ your former Grand Inquisitor is?”

“……………….FUCK!”

*

_How dare the human suggest that I should APOLOGIZE!!! Do I demand him to apologize whenever he breathes!? And I doubt an “apology” will make up for me burning and eating the Skywalker runt._

**_How do you know that?_ **

_Because Skywalkers don’t forgive._

**_How do you know that?_ **

_His grandfather tried to kill me._

**_Why?_ **

_Because he feared me._

**_Why?_ **

_He was afraid of death._

**_What about you?_ **

_What about me!_

**_What about you?_ **

_I eat dead stars!_

**_Aren’t you afraid?_ **

_Of what?_

**_Aren’t you afraid?_ **

_Of death?_

**_Aren’t you—_ **

“SHUT UP!” Dead-Star screams causing the Sith Spirit to stop babbling.

“I see you’re quite ready to go!” The Sith Spirit remarks with a grin on his face, while the human raises a perplexed eyebrow.

“…………Yes.” He stubbornly refuses to ask either the Spirit or the human what’s going on.

“Okay, then go, but be back before night falls!” The Spirit then disappears. Both of them hear a large scraping sound like a giant stone door was opening.

“Come on!” The human races past him with his boots slapping against the ground. Dead-Star runs after him, not knowing why the human is running.

**_For the sun._ **

_The sun?_

He sees light up the stairs, a light so different from the crystal lights in the halls and the tomb. The light has heat, much hotter than the stinging snap of a lizard’s tail. This heat feels like….the Chosen One.

Dead-Star stops at the bottom of the staircase.

“Dead-Star?” The human is halfway up the stairs when he stops to look back at him.

Dead-Star looks down, away from the light.

“What’s the matter?” The human’s voice is soft like he wants to help him.

**_Doesn’t he always?_ **

“The light…..it wants to kill me.” _Like the Chosen One._

“It’ll more likely kill me; I can’t tan!” The human jokes, while Dead-Star shakes his head.

Dead-Star keeps his yellow eyes down.

“Would you look at me, please?” Dead-Star’s eyes drift up without his volition. The light has made the red in the human’s spikey hair spark with reds and gold like a flickering fire. His white skin glows from the light like a moon does before being eaten by a dead star.

**_He’s the Phoenix._ **

_Yes._

“Thank you. I vow that I won’t let the sun harm you, and if I break such a vow, then you can have my hand.” The human offers his white hand, a light in the darkness.

Dead-Star takes a step, then another, then another, and another.

He takes the human’s hand.

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- No links this time. 
> 
> I just got Jean Grey #8 and Star Wars Union: The Wedding of Luke and Mara comics. Needless to say I’m pretty giddy with my purchases. Now, I want Jean Grey #9-10, but not the rest because I get what’s going on. Teen Jean, because there’s ghost Adult Jean haunting her, reminds me a bit of Korra where she’s confused and trying to figure out her future, except I haven’t come across a bullshit love triangle in the issue. Though the issue I read did have Teen and Adult Jean delving into Emma Frost’s mind/memories to get her piece of the Phoenix. You know I used to hate Emma Frost, and thought she and Scott deserve each other because I hated them and they were terrible people. Now, I think Emma could do much better. Maybe Teen Scott will become a better character than Adult Scott who’s being Magneto 2.0 without any of Magneto’s charisma. 
> 
> I bought all four issues of The Wedding of Luke and Mara because it’s the wedding of Luke and Mara. For those of you only familiar with the New Canon, Mara Jade is from Legends/EU and her first appearance was in Timothy Zahn’s Heir to the Empire where she became a main character. She was a Hand of the Emperor, which really means she was Palpatine’s assassin/spy while being under the guise of a dancer in his court. Palpatine took her from her parents, on Coruscant I think, when she was four, but she saw him coming. Palpatine would later command Mara to kill Luke, and she kind of does in the Thrawn trilogy, but she would later join up with Luke’s Jedi Praxeum and become a student there. They would later wed nearly 11 years after first meeting each other and she became Mara Skywalker. Mara and Luke would have a son named Ben Skywalker, while Leia and Han (who had their twins during the Thrawn trilogy) had three children: the fraternal twins, Jacen and Jaina Solo, and then a son named Anakin Solo. 
> 
> For those in New Canon wanting a happier ending for the Original Trio, particularly after watching the tear-jerking TLJ, then the Legends/EU can offer that for you. I can promise you that the OT do make it to old age with grandchildren.
> 
> Anyways, back to the chapter, I was going to have this go into Armitage and Dead-Star’s adventure outside, but I’m saving that for the next chapter. TLJ helped me capture Luke’s humor, though I’m still working on him. I’m planning having Brendol and Leia to interact again, which will be fun. And, hey, we’ve got some progress on the Ben/Dead-Star body-sharing thing!
> 
> Next chapter: Armitage and Dead-Star play in the sun, while Brendol just wants to be left alone.


	17. The Huntsman

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dead-Star and Armitage play in the sun, while Brendol does his best to hold a conversation with Leia.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing in the Star Wars universe or anything in any universe; I just like writing stories in that universe.

 

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Sixteen

+******

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Not While I’m Around from Sweeny Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

+******

            The Dead-Star Dragon squints his yellow eyes from the excessive light of the sun. Yet, it does not kill him. He focuses on the human before him to distract himself from the harsh rays.

_He’s so pale! I never knew he was so pale! He’s as white as a star!_

**_Being underground in a barely-lit pyramid doesn’t do wonders to his complexion._ **

_Will the sun burn him soon?_

**_Very likely, and I didn’t see him apply any sunblock._ **

_So he’ll be black like the lizards?_

**_No, he’ll be red like his hair._ **

_Will it hurt?_

**_Yes, particularly for his ears and nose._ **

_What can I do?_

**_Keep him under the shady parts of trees, the less light the better._ **

_We’re in the middle of a lake!_

**_Beyond the lake, there is a jungle._ **

_What’s a jungle?_

**_A place with lots of trees and humidity._ **

_Then, all we have to do is cross the lake……_

**_Not by swimming because of the dead water._ **

_Water can be dead?_

**_It’s because of Sith magic._ **

_The Sith…_

 “Dead-Star, we’re going have to hopscotch on the stones.” The human’s reedy voice snaps him back to reality. He looks at the gray lake with its pebbled path; the only path away from the Sith Spirit.

“What’s hopscotch?” The human smirks, but he manages not to growl at him. He is slowly learning that growling does not get him what he wants.

“What you say to come back to the Land of the Dead!” _Do all humans know this? **No! He likes being mischievous like the Wistie that he is!**_

“I’m just fooling with you! Hopscotch is hopping across something to reach the end. It’s a game that schoolchildren play in the holos.” The human pulls at his hand, gesturing him to stand by his side. The human stops holding his hand and then hops onto the first stone with a mighty whump.

“It’s like this, but the stones are close enough where you can just walk across them as long as you’re careful! You try.” Dead-Star looks at the water warily and then back at the human. The human stretches out his hand for support.

Dead-Star takes a small leap and lands on the small stone without a sound.

“You’re as quiet as a ballerina!” _And you’re skinny as one. **Don’t say that aloud.**_

“You’re not the boss of me!” The human frowns at his outburst.

“It’s not you! It’s……….me.” He clarifies, and the human stares at him with wide eyes. The dragon-prince’s cheeks turn pink.

“I believe you. Let’s go!” The human hops onto another stone, and the dragon-prince follows him.

+

_[“Little one,” he said, “who bears up alone in such deep sorrow.”]_

Brendol Hux sees a Ferris wheel with red and blue lights on a light-filled pier in a dark void.

_[“I give you this to remember this day. We will meet again.”]_

The wheel turns mechanically.

_[“This ring will lead you to me one day.”]_

The red and blue flash.

_[“Perhaps the ring the prince gave her was an engagement ring.”]_

The city blinks.

_[“This was all well and good, but so impressed was she by him…that the princess vowed to become a prince herself one day.”]_

The dark encroaches.

_[“But was that really such a good idea?”]_

All to be replaced by a witch.

“What language are they speaking?” He looks up and sees Senator Organa in sky-blue robes and her hair done up like a hennin. Her hair has been braided and twisted conically. There’s even a slip of a blue veil coming from the top of her cone.

 _She looks like a princess, even though she’s technically a queen._ He holds his tongue.

“Not Nagai, though it sounds similar.”

“The language of…the Knives?” _Looks like her spies have been paying attention!_

“Yes, but they also go by N’Gai or Nagai.” The princess-senator nods politely at his addition.

“Is the New Republic planning to extend a branch to the Firefist galaxy?” Not one muscle twitches on her face, a perfect face for sabacc.

“I’m going to let you in on something that your spies didn’t tell you about the Unknown Regions: most of the _aliens_ there _hate_ the First Order AND the New Republic.” His eyes drift back to the screen where the princess-prince is talking about macaroni.

“Why would they hate the New Republic?” Her tone is calm like the End of the World.

“Because they view you as the source of their _vermin_ infestation.” The princess-prince is on her back, chattering to distract herself from the pain of her rape. He squeezes his eyes shut in empathy.  

“Is that what the First Order dignitaries tell them—” When she stops, he opens his eyes and sees her turn as white as a cloud.

“I……..Ben?”

*

The jungle reminds Armitage of Mount Tantiss. The wind blowing through the trees make the vines slither like crystal snakes. The barks on the trees are dark and thick like the scales of the Lesser Dragon. The light of the sun cuts through the shadows of the trees like the torches in the dark throneroom.

 _I am going to burn today!_ He wishes that he asked Kun for sunblock.

 _I can’t tan like the Commandant and I can’t use the Force to protect myself like father._ He feels himself being jerked like a doll by Dead-Star. He finds himself under a tree with leaves almost as big as speeders.

“You’ll burn if you stay in the sun for too long.” Dead-Star mumbles with pink cheeks. Armitage’s white hand twitches as he resists the urge to pat the dragon-prince on the head.

 _If I did that, he’d bite me!_ The pupils in those yellow eyes narrow into slits and he turns his head to the east.

“What is it?”

“There is a runyip grazing by herself in a clearing only four meters away.”

“What’s a runyip?”

“Herbivores typically used as pack animals. They have semi-prehensile noses and long ears along with claws on their feet to help them dig for food. They make a lot of noise when they eat.” The dragon-prince licks his plush lips.

“Her white belly is bulging with fat from years of easy living. Her red lips are smacking as she’s eating the jungle mulch. Her black eyes are lax.” The dragon-prince is salivating as though he can just taste the runyip.

“…….You do realize that if you set fire to the runyip, the entire jungle will catch on fire.” Armitage reminds him as he watches a stream of drool run down the side of the dragon-prince’s mouth.

“I _hunger_.” Dead-Star’s yellow eyes are upon him like twin suns.

“I’ll kill her for you.” The twin suns scorch him.

“Really?” Armitage gets down on one knee and keeps his green eyes down like a knight.

“By your command, my Prince!” If he looked up, he would’ve seen that the twin suns have become black holes.

“Bring us her heart.”

*

_A-Are you going to kill me?_

“Why would I do that?”

_I-I burned you and ate you._

“You did.”

_I-I’m sorry._

“You are.”

_V-Very._

“Keep your eyes on the runyip.”

The runyip is snorting and sniffling as it chews on the mulch. Armitage, barefoot and armed with his sword, is as quiet as a tomb. His feet, still marred by Dead-Star’s claws, move carefully, avoiding every twig like a landmine.

_He’s so slow!_

“He’s a hunter.”

The runyip’s red lips smack noisily, deafening her to her murderer’s sudden misstep with a twig. Her white tail swishes away black flies buzzing around her like piranha beetles. Armitage raises his silver blade, kissed by the sun, and plunges it in the runyip’s white belly.

Red rubies drip out of the runyip’s ruby red lips along with white screams.   

“It’s like a fairytale.”

_The lizards never wailed like that when I killed them._

“It’s too bad he can’t eat that.” Armitage takes his blade out and stabs the runyip again. Again. And again.

_Why?_

“He’s allergic to mammalian meat.” Dead-Star doesn’t know what _mammalian_ means, but he can deduce that the human cannot eat the runyip.

He then picks up the quiet trills from a tree right by his.

He looks over and sees a hideously orange bird with an obnoxiously yellow beak.

“That’s a whisper bird.” Now, Dead-Star knows that a bird is not mammalian.

_The human could eat it._

“Yes, but you don’t know how to climb trees. And even if you could, the noise you’d make would scare it away.” Dead-Star goes pink with frustration.

_I want to kill it!_

“Then, give me control. I will be able to kill it with the Force before Armitage arrives.” The fear crawls into Dead-Star’s stolen heart like Death.

_You’ll never give it back!_

“Yes, I will after I have made runyip stew and roasted whisper bird.” Dead-Star would drool if he could, so his stomach groans for him.

_Fine, but the stew is mine!_

“As you wish.”

*

“Okay, my Prince, I got the heart you wanted, but we’re going to need—” His words die as he sees an orange bird with its neck snapped like a twig’s. It’s vacant eyes remind him of a Skesis.

“Armitage, you have proven yourself to be a true knight-errant!” The dragon-prince commends him, which causes Armitage to beam with pride and then he gapes.

“PRINCE! YOU’RE BACK!” He practically screams with glee. He drops the heart in the grass and tackles the Prince into the tree’s shadow, causing the Prince to drop the bird. He leaves bloodied handprints on the Prince’s back.

“Yes, for now. Dead-Star was gracious enough to let me cook you a nice meal.” The Prince murmurs soothingly as he rubs his back.

“I’m glad you two get along now.” He feels the Prince’s jaw dig into his shoulder from the strength of his nodding.

“I missed you so much!”

“As have I, my Wistie.”

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- There are no links this time.
> 
> Did you all forget about the time that Ben Organa Solo/Prince Amidala mind-controlled a Battle Hydra with the intent of letting Armitage kill it? You really shouldn’t have! Seriously, someone get Armitage away from him. Kun, Leia, Satan, anyone really!
> 
> Well, the Prince is back. For now. You know, before writing this series, I did consider making Ben and Armitage teenagers. But, boy, I’m glad I didn’t. This would’ve been super creepy, but I guess it’s cute when they’re kids. Maybe. Okay, it’s still pretty creepy. By the way, most of the creatures mentioned in this do exist in Legends/EU. 
> 
> And if Leia can pull herself back into a ship after it gets blown up in TLJ, then she can damn well feel when her son, especially when he’s being Dark, comes back. Poor Kun, he’s going to be sore in the next chapter. 
> 
> Supposedly, what will happen in the next chapter: Anakin is making copies, Leia finds a new hope, Kun is tired, Armitage needs an adult, Ben is a bit of creeper, Dead-Star is hungry, and Brendol is still watching Utena.


	18. The Twins

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben cooks, Armitage eats, Kun watches, Brendol thinks, and Anakin annoys.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Seventeen

+*******

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- America from West Side Story

+*******

            Anakin Skywalker watches the copier in his room print enough flimsi-posters to create a small mountain for Yoda to sit and drink tea upon. He grabs an armful of posters and heads straight to the library where most of his Line are.

“An—” Qui-Gon starts and is then cut off by the mighty WHUMP of Anakin laying the posters on the tea table; a poster swishes from the stack and right in Qui-Gon’s lap. “Why do you have posters of the Son?”

“It’s not the Son; it’s actually Desolous, a Temple Guard and Grand Inquisitor.” Qui-Gon raises an inquisitive eyebrow.

“Anakin is hoping to track down Desolous in order to learn more about this Brendol Hux.” Dooku interjects without looking up from his red leather tome.

“How is learning more about this ‘Brendol Hux’ supposed to help find your creepy grandson?” Xanatos leers without looking up from his blue leather tome.

“Uhhh, it’s better than just sitting around and doing nothing.” Anakin replies weakly. Xanatos rolls his sapphire eyes and flips the page.

“It’s good that you’re taking a break from….looking out for your family.” Qui-Gon pats him on the back, while Xanatos snorts.

“I’m glad you agree, so do you want to help me hang these posters?” Qui-Gon smiles politely.

“I’m going to visit Tahl right now.” And if Obi-Wan’s _visits_ are anything to go by, Anakin knows that he won’t be seeing Qui-Gon for a couple of days. He turns to Dooku.

“Aren’t you a little curious to find out how they got together in the first place?” Dooku looks up and levels him a cool look.

“I doubt the posters will lure out Desolous and compel him to speak about it.” Anakin feels his excitement deflate like a hot air balloon from Carnelion IV.

“I’ll do it.” Xanatos closes his tome and tosses it on the tea table, causing the stack of posters to tumble down onto the floor.

“Really?” Anakin eyes him suspiciously.

“I just want to see how he reacts to you asking about his sex life.” Xanatos smirks like the smug bastard that he is, but Anakin will take all the help he can get.

“Okay, you take half and I’ll take the other half.” Xanatos goes over to grab his half.

“These are adhesive, right?” Anakin immediately curses and hurries back to his room to correct his foible. Qui-Gon and Dooku shake their heads, while Xanatos laughs.

+

Armitage’s sharp cheeks hurt from him smiling for so long, but he can’t help it. The way that the Prince is effortlessly using the Force to levitate the runyip makes him feel like he’s in an X-Men movie.

 _He couldn’t levitate the whisper bird, as he called it, but the runyip looks pretty heavy. Plus, the Prince can save this meat for some other time, well, if Kun has a freezer somewhere in that pyramid of his._ The dead whisper bird looks like an oversized avian toy that children would have in horror holos.

 _Probably doesn’t help that my hands are still bloodied from holding that runyip heart._ He can see his bloodied handprints on the Prince’s back like a parody of angel wings.

“Prince, how are you planning to cook the meat?” _The Prince couldn’t breathe fire before, but maybe he knows how to start one since it is basic wilderness survival. Surely, Skywalker taught him that much._ Yet, Armitage rolls his eyes at that childish thought.

“I am planning to first collect some herbs to create separate brines—”

“What I meant was are you going to use your fire-breath?”

“My fire-breath?” The Prince pauses mid-step. “Oh, yes, I can’t breathe fire like Dead-Star. I don’t even know how he was able to in the first place.”

“Maybe it’s instinctual like if you think really hard you can make fire!”

“Or it’s unique to him since he _was_ a dragon.” The Prince resumes walking and continues talking. “He can’t lift anything with the Force like I can, so, perhaps, that’s unique to me.”

“For now. One day, you two can get along so well that you’ll fuse together and have UNLIMITED POWER!” Armitage shouts at the top of his lungs and raises the dead whisper bird up to the sky like a sacrifice to the gods. But the Prince does not look back at his melodramatics.

“Perhaps, perhaps not.” The Prince pauses for dramatic effect. “In any case, I’ll ask Lord Kun if he has a stove when he get back.”

“And caf, I could use some damn fine caf…”

*

Brendol watches as Luke sweeps into the room with his brown robes and his yellow hair whipping around wildly like he’s in a hurricane.

“Leia, did you _feel_ that?” “Yes!”

“The Force!” “Ben!”

_Oh, right, Leia probably is gifted with the Force like her twin, so they can read each other’s minds. No, wait, I don’t think complete telepathy is possible with Force-users, unless they share a bond. Maybe? I really should’ve asked Desolous or Rama more about this._

“Can you track him in the Force?” “Maybe.”

“Maybe?” “It’s not an exact science, Leia.”

“But he’s Ben!” “It’s not like we have a training bond!”

“What about through me?” “If we meditate together, we might be able to reach him!”

 _Are they really—_ The Skywalker Twins kneel to the floor together and get into meditation position. They close their eyes and draw in a breath in unison.

 _I’m almost reminded of Leto and Ghanima, except more childish, since the Atreides Twins had old souls in young bodies. And if I remember correctly, Leto became a Sandworm but with a human face and arms—_ Luke opens up one bright-blue eye and squints in a halfway glare. Brendol’s mind shuts up, and Luke shuts his eye.

For thirty minutes, the Skywalker Twins meditate, holding hands, searching for Ben. Meanwhile, Brendol watches the pair as silently as he could; Desolous, during their initial courtship, taught him how to _quiet_ his mind.

_“You rarely open your mouth, but your mind speaks. It speaks so much when it’s not focused on something. So focus on something, Brendol.” Brendol focuses on Desolous’s silver eyes for a couple of minutes, and is rewarded with a chuckle._

_“How pure, and I mean that. Most beings would go for the lips.” The silver eyes become bigger, and their lips touch. The silver darkens into iron._

“No……” The word leaves Luke’s lips like a rasp, harsh and hopeless. The Skywalker Twins open their eyes and let go of each other.

“Something is hiding him because I felt him. I felt his darkness.” Leia’s face contorts into an expression of determination, but her brown eyes show fear.

“Something much darker than him, but still here. We’ll find him.” Luke promises, and Leia nods to console him. She gets up and leaves, her blue robes swishing with fury. Luke sighs wearilu and puts his face between his hands.

“…. I could research with you. I’m actually good at reading.” Brendol whispers his offer, not wanting his words to blow Luke away like a pillar of sand.

“I need all the help I can get.” Luke shakes his head and leaves, most likely to get some books for him. His brown robes swish behind him as he walks away.

Brendol sighs at their youth.

*

“I hope he didn’t leave the door open the entire time we were out here.”

“I hope he did; the stinger lizards could use some competition.”

His disciples descend together with their kills. Armitage drags his feet like the husk of a Korriban zombie, while Ben takes short, measured steps like a royal in heavy robes. They are tired from their morning hunt and from having no lunch to sustain them.

_But Ben is more tired than Armitage. First, he was burned and taken over by Dead-Star. Then, he had to bide his time, scrape together enough power to scare the dragon into submission._

_It seems Ben is embracing his Dark Side far quicker than I planned. However, he did not destroy the dragon like I presumed he would. Either he’s biding his time to do that later, or the dragon has become a part of him. A part that is too crucial to ever destroy._

_Or he’s afraid that Armitage would hate him for killing his……friend._

Exar Kun wishes he could explore the issue more, but he doesn’t have enough Force-energy to even appear before his disciples, let alone use the Force to pry into Ben’s mind.

“Considering how this temple can afford a bathing pool the size of Jabba the Hutt, then there should be a kitchen around here.” _It took thirteen days for Armitage to finally look for the kitchen. It should’ve been Ben by day two, but he was trapped in the belly of the beast._

He only has to wait five minutes for his disciples to pass the kitchen door; he brings the door down and delights in the way that Armitage scrambles back.

_The Force told me that he’s an expert of Sith Temples, but he still is a child. Of course, Ben wasn’t surprised. I couldn’t exactly disguise my Force-signature with how weak I am._

They go through the door, and Kun sees Ben smirking.

_He’s so possessive just like Anakin, and Armitage is blind to it just like Padmé. What a dangerous pairing._

His disciples make faces like they sucked on lemons when they get their first whiff of the kitchen. The kitchen is three-fourths the size of the bathing room and far simpler with earth-colored cabinets made from the local trees and limestone counterparts.

_The Massassi were the best slaves a Sith can have, so skilled and easily swayed by the cries of their children._

The children explore the bottom cabinets finding black metal pans, pots, and kettles. They check the top cabinets finding crystal cups, hemp napkins and papers, and glass chutes. They check the drawers and find silver spoons, forks, knives, and scissors. They go to the walk-in freezer and find carefully labeled, in Ancient Sith, bags with spices, meats, grain, and tubers; all preserved by Sith magic.

_It’s far easier to preserve foodstuffs than it was my Massassi guard; although, I could’ve sworn I put one in deep freeze here. Or was it beneath the Great Temple?_

Ben and Armitage exit the freezer and go get the butchering knives. For nearly three hours, he watches his disciples diligently carving the runyip and whisper-bird together before they went to their separate tasks. Ben did the cooking, after watching his hands in the copper sink, while Armitage wrapped and stored the leftover meat in the freezer.

_Neither of them are squeamish about being covered in blood. I have chosen well._

Two hours later, he watches Armitage gobble down his roasted whisper-bird until there was nothing but greasy bones, while Ben take delicate sips of his runyip stew. He stops when half his stew is gone and switches back to Dead-Star. The dragon throws the spoon to the floor and guzzles down the stew.

Armitage giggles when Dead-Star licks the bottom of his bowl like a Sith pup. He takes his napkin and cleans Dead-Star’s face.

_Dead-Star and Ben have the Force, but Armitage holds such power over them. Just like Sidious._

*

Desolous is leaving from a training room after sparring with Kanan Jarrus; he thirsts for Kopi tea and solitude. As he leaves, he sees something from the corner of his eye. He sees a poster stuck to the training room’s hallway, a poster of himself with some writing.

_Missing: Desolous, former Temple Guard and Grand Inquisitor._

_If found, please bring him to Anakin Skywalker’s room._

He sighs deeply and reports to Skywalker’s room.

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- No links this time. 
> 
> Look at that, the plot is progressing. I am planning to wrap this up in maybe five chapters because I really don’t want to drag out this “arc” longer than I should. You know as long as the Force Ghosts don’t become troublesome, and poor Desolous. All he wants is to drink his tea in peace. And until the New Canon gives me his actual name, I’m going to continue calling the Grand Inquisitor/Jedi Temple Guard Desolous. 
> 
> Also, so many Legends references in this chapter too. 
> 
> Next chapter: Ben and Dead-Star negotiate, Armitage is still crushing on Kun, Brendol makes a breakthrough, and Anakin gets what he wants.


	19. The Stars

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dead-Star has a dream, Ben interprets it, Armitage plans with Kun, and Desolous talks to Anakin.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Eighteen

+********

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- In Dreams by Roy Orbison

+********

            _Dead-Star Dragon finds himself in the familiar blackness of his universe. His universe sparkles with thousands of new stars; some white like a moon, some red like a fire, some blue like a river, and some purple like a dark crystal._

_With a flick of his black talons, the stars become mottled with darkness. The darkness creeps onto the stars and licks the colors out of them like a lollipop losing its artificial sweetness._

_He eats them and feels the warmth of satisfaction._

_Another star pops up and colored like a rainbow. With another flick, the darkness saps the colors from it._

_He licks it and consumes it with a CRUNCH._

“Dead-Star, you’re giving me hickies again!” Dead-Star snaps his eyes open and sees that he has migrated into the human’s sleeping pallet at some point in the night. And his mouth at some point latched itself onto the side of the human’s stringy neck.

He pulls his teeth from the soft skin and sees that he has left a tattoo of reddening bite marks.

He gives an apologetic lick.

The human sighs wearily.

+

Anakin is beaming, as though he received a million kisses from his Angel, when he sees Desolous walk into his room. His former Grand Inquisitor is dressed in the garb of the Jedi Temple Guards: brown-gold robes with white armor pieces and the golden insignia of the Jedi. Sans the mask and hood.

“It has been…almost twenty years since we’ve last spoke.” Anakin feels sticky with awkwardness. Desolous has his hands behind his back and regards him coolly.

“Yes, Knight Skywalker.” _Knight_ is filled with wariness.

“You don’t have to call me that. Just Anakin will do.” But the frown on Desolous’s white face suggest that he will do no such thing.

“I understand that you have been trying to get into contact with. But for what purpose?” _I guess as a Jedi he was less of a conversationalist._

“Well, my grandson came into contact with Brendol Hux’s son—”

“Armitage.” The name comes out sourly like a vat of Roonan lemons.

“Yes, Armitage and my grandson have gone missing. So Hux showed up to find him and then got shot.” The silver eyes dullen with boredom.

“So I have heard.” Anakin counts to three in his mind to reel in his anger.

“Anyways, Hux was talking with my son about how he had a Jedi boyfriend during the Clone Wars who happened to be a Pau’an.” Anakin has to wait for a minute before Desolous decides to speak.

“And since I was the only Pau’an in the Order at the time, you decided to plaster your childish posters all over the Afterlife, so I can sate your curiosity.” There is such a chill in Desolous’s tone that makes Anakin wonder how much of the Grand Inquisitor is still in him.

“Yes, but it’s only because I just want to hear your love story!” Silver eyes change into dark pits.

“It was never a love story.”

*

Brendol sips caf from a ceramic mug with a happy Bantha face on it; it was a kitschy Life Day present from Han to Luke. He is 200 pages into the third volume of clerical records that a Massassi slave wrote under Dark Lord Exar Kun, which was then translated by the very neurotic C-3PO.

 _Luke was only able to find five volumes out of an alleged 40. So far the slave only talks about the  
“glorious privilege” of serving Exar Kun. I have a feeling it’s not until volume ten when the Great Pyramid is even mentioned. _ Brendol scratches his bristling chin.

“Do you want me to get you a razor to shave that beard? Your face must be awfully hot on this jungle moon.” Luke offers as he’s drinking tea from a porcelain cup with the Rebel starbird painted on it; it was a classy Life Day present from Leia to Luke.

“Nah, my beard was longer than this on Wayland.”

“Wayland as in the planet or sector?”

“Planet. I took Armitage there this past summer, so I could teach him how to survive in a jungle.” Luke regards him with suspicion like he’s trying to ferret out a lie in the Force.

“That’s not part of the territories allotted to the First Order.” Brendol nearly snorts out his caf at how Luke’s lips pucker at _territories_.

“It’s not part of the New Republic either. It’s unclaimed, so Armitage and I weren’t trespassing.”

“But aren’t there jungle worlds in the Unknown Regions?”

“Yeah, but that’s where Palpatine kept his dragon!”

“What!?”

“I heard about it from some gossiping Old Imperials, so I just had to investigate.”

“Why? If there’s a dragon there, why would you go there? Especially with your son?”

“I wanted to see it and kill it. But Armitage got to do that, except there wasn’t much glory in it. He did get a scabbard and decades of boots from its hide.” Luke pinches the bridge of his nose, looking very like he’s going to regret his next question.

“Why wasn’t there glory in it?”

“Because it wasn’t the Great Dragon. It was just this Lesser Dragon probably cloned by some extinct beast that looked like a dragon.”

“How is killing this ‘Great Dragon’ supposed to bring glory?”

“Because it’s the most powerful creature in the galaxy, and if you kill it, then you’d be the best swordsman in the galaxy.”

“Where did you learn such a legend?”

“My whore-mother.”

Luke stares at him for a moment, his face scrunching up like a confused nerf calf searching for salt, and then eventually lets his eyes drift back to his book.

*

Ben hears his stomach growling like he hasn’t been fed in days. He knows that it is Dead-Star’s doing because he’s trained himself not to get hungry while cooking. But he cannot be too hard on the dragon.

The runyip patties are sautéing in rich, brown gravy and caramelized onions. In the pan next to it is the tuber-cakes, chock full of grounded, black pepper and grated garlic. Above the tuber-cakes is the pan with the powdered eggs that he’s rehydrating to make gooey, golden scrambled eggs.

Breakfast would be done in ten minutes, and Exar Kun will release his Wistie.

He can feel Exar Kun’s faint Force-signature in the room like eyes watching him.

_Dead-Star, do you feel him?_

**_Of course, I can! Only he can piss me off so much!_ **

_Where did you pick up such vulgar language?_

**_The human during his “re-enactments” with the Sith Spirit. I thought you could “see” what I see!_ **

_Not all the time._

**_Why? It’s not like your mind has anything interesting like stinger lizards or food!_ **

_I am honing the Force within me._

**_Is that why I can’t use the Force?_ **

_You used the Force to grow out my nails._

**_That doesn’t count! Why don’t I have super-strength or super-speed?_ **

_Because utilizing the Force in those ways require years of practice, which you don’t have._

**_I’m the Dead-Star Dragon; I didn’t need the Force to eat stars._ **

_I know. I witnessed your first dream._

**_I never dreamt before because I didn’t need to sleep. The stars gave me all the energy I ever needed._ **

_Your dream is indicative of your longing for your old life, but I believe there’s more beyond the surface._

**_Like what?_ **

_The last star you ate._

**_Oh, you mean the one that caused me to bite the human?_ **

_Yes, but the star is my Wistie._

**_The human?_ **

_Yes. You didn’t get to eat him._

**_Because of his bellyaching!_ **

_No, the dream ended right before his chastisement. You licked and then bit, but you received nothing._

**_My ears would beg to differ._ **

_You received no satisfaction. It was taken from you._

**_By who?_ **

_Who else?_

**_………The Sith Spirit?_ **

_Yes! The dream is an allegory for what is happening now._

**_The Sith Spirit is taking the human away?_ **

_From us!_

**_But how? He has no body._ **

_He doesn’t need a body just some kind words and bits of knowledge._

**_He does that, but the human always returns to me._ **

_For now._

**_Why should I care? If the human turned against me, I can burn him alive!_ **

_He’s outmaneuvered you before and had his sword at your throat._

**_He’s fast! And I was trying not to kill him immediately._ **

_He’s gone to military school and knows all sorts of tactics that we don’t._

**_I get it he can read!_ **

_But he’s trusting. And Sith Lords like Exar Kun will take advantage of him._

**_And turn him against us._ **

_Yes._

**_So what do we do about it?_ **

_We only need to wait._

**_That’s it?_ **

_And pretend to trust him._

**_Oh, and once we have his trust, we kill him!_ **

_Yes, but not in front of our Wistie._

**_Because the human is ours._ **

_Forever._

*

When Armitage strolls into the kitchen, whistling about _candy-colored clowns_ , he salivates at the breakfast spread on the table. He’s sees a stack of golden-brown tuber-cakes, a plate of meaty patties, and a bowl of golden scrambled eggs. There are two cups filled with blue milk.

“Wow, Prince, you’ve outdone yourself!” The Prince smiles and pulls out a chair for him to sit. Armitage takes the seat, and the Prince pushes him close to the table. The Prince then walks to the other side of the table and takes a seat. His eyes change. 

 “Morning, Dead-Star!” He expects a growl or a roll of those yellow eyes. But Dead-Star stares at him. Intensely.

“What did you and the Sith Spirit talk about?” Armitage tenses.

_I can’t tell him about the surprise party! Kun and I spent like the morning planning it out. But what can I tell him? Oh, I know I’ll just tell him a half-truth because those are only lies of omission. Thank you, Book of Sith!_

“Just some philosophical stuff about happiness.” Dead-Star looks down on his empty plate and scowls.

“Do you want to say something else?”

“Just eat your breakfast, human.”

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- Here is the link:
> 
> I would not recommend Blue Velvet for the faint of heart or those unfamiliar with David Lynch’s work. My favorite scene in that movie is Ben essentially lip-synching to Roy Orbison’s “In Dreams” and I was amazed at Ben’s power over Frank in that scene when Frank could have easily killed that suave fucker. So I used that for Ben’s and Dead-Star’s talk: [Link](https://youtu.be/gmsrO8xpe-w)
> 
> Only about four chapters left before this story ends. What will happen next?


	20. The Seer

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Anakin recalls some bad advice he gave, while Ben shows Dead-Star how to kiss some ass.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Nineteen

+*********

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Falling by Julee Cruise

+*********

            “What do you mean it wasn’t a love story!?” Anakin slams his fist down on his work table, causing his latest fix-it project, a tooka doll made of spare droid parts, to fall off the table and crash onto the ground.

Desolous’s face remains coolly blank.

“Think about it, Knight Skywalker, what would have happened to Brendol and me if we were recklessly indulgent as you were?” Anakin opens his mouth to respond, not knowing it was a rhetorical question. “As a Jedi, I would have been expelled from the Order, while Brendol may have been court-martialed. As a Sith, we would have been killed, most likely by you.”

Anakin winces as he recalls his earliest lesson with future Grand Inquisitor.

_“Which emotion is the most powerful?”_

_“Anger.”_

_“A correct assumption, but it is wrong.”_

_“Then what is, My Lord?”_

_“Love.”_

_“Love? But it’s steeped in the Light.”_

_“Is it? Love arouses so many dark emotions: jealously, anger, hatred.”_

_“Then, we must embrace love?”_

_“No. Love blind us, weakens us. The Dark Side allows no quarter for the weak. And neither do I.”_

_“I understand, My Lord.”_

“But we’re with the Force now, so you don’t have to obey my—Vader’s command. And I—Vader only said that because of Palpatine and his constant reject—anyways, you should embrace love now!” Anakin holds his arms out like he wants a hug.

“Like that matters now.” Desolous’s words rumble from his throat like a growl.

“Okay, he can’t hear it or feel it since he’s a Null, and you’re not skilled with the Cosmic like Yoda, Obi-Wan, and I are. But it’s the thought that counts!” The utter look of contempt on Desolous face suggests otherwise.

“Goodbye, Knight Skywalker.” He turns away from him and heads for the door.

“But you haven’t finished your story!” Anakin whines. Desolous stops shortly before the exit.

“Here is how it ended: I chose to fall to my death to avoid being killed by you, and Brendol mourned me for a second time. Then, he married Maratelle, but fell in love with the spawn of evil. They had a child. The end.”

Desolous exits, and Anakin chases after him. He steps on the tooka, crushing the patchwork doll beneath his boot.

+

His Wistie stretches his mismatched arms above his head after finishing his breakfast. His light tunic rides up to reveal his flat, pale belly.

**_Why are you staring at his belly?_ **

_He doesn’t have one._

**_Then, why does he bother to eat?_ **

_By “belly,” I mean that there’s not an ounce of fat on him._

**_What does that have to do with killing the Sith Spirit?_ **

_Absolutely everything. Do you know how Kun has such a strong hold over our Wistie?_

**_Grr. Always praising the human for being so perfect!_ **

_Yes, he rewards our Wistie with affection. Affection that I haven’t been able to shower him since our……disagreement. Kun’s affection binds our Wistie to him, so we must be affectionate to unbind them._

**_Do I have to congratulate him for every little thing now? Like him going to the ‘fresher?_ **

_No! Just observe._

“While I was…..finding my way back to you, I was able to witness your _duel_ with Dead-Star.”

“Oh, you were? It wasn’t as life-threatening as the duel with the Lesser Dragon, but there was fire!” His Wistie sheepishly grins.

“I noticed that you were doing flips like in Ataru.”

“It was Ataru! Just without the Force.”

“But your flips were far more coordinated than my uncle’s.” A smug smile graces his Wistie’s lips like he’s naturally arrogant.

“Well, he only had a couple of months to learn from a living Master. Mara said that even a Chosen One cannot learn all the forms of lightsaber combat in such a short time.” **_Who is Mara?_** _Apparently, a Force-user who knew my uncle. How intriguing._

“So was Mara the one to help you master Ataru?” His Wistie shakes his shorn head. _He would look so much better with long hair. **He’d look better if he had scales.**_

“No, she’s just…..my friends’ mom.” _Friends. **Friends?**_

“Did she teach you about the Force?” _And are her children Force-sensitive? **Why would that matter?** They could become our enemies in the future. **Or our friends.**_

“Not really. I probably learned more from her stolen books than her.” His Wistie’s thin lips soften from his cheeky grin to a wistful pout. “And from my father.”

“Your father? The Commandant?”

“No, he’s just my sire!” _I guess he was conceived through a surrogate. **Or he could’ve been created by the Force like me.**_

“I see…..then you must’ve inherited all of your Force knowledge from your father.”  

“No, he only taught me some stars in the universe of the Force. Like Darth Nihilus.”

“How did he came across such knowledge?” _He must be strong in the Unifying Force. **I thought the Force was just the Force.** The Force is one pillar of the Jedi, and within it, there is the Living and Unifying. The Unifying Force deals with seeing the past or the future. **So does the Dark Side have those sides of the Force?** I presume so; the Light and Dark are two facets of the Force. _

His Wistie’s eyes turn watery blue, a shade of doom.

“He sees into the distant past and glimpses at the stagnant future.”

*

The lunch bell chimes sharply throughout the Praxeum.

“I must go and make lunch for my initiates.” Luke closes his book and tosses it onto the pile of useless books.

“Hey, can you pass me the final volume before you skedaddle?” Brendol asks as he throws his useless book onto the pile. Luke pauses before passing him the final volume.

“Skedaddle?”

“It’s a verb that means to depart quickly. It’s a real word; it probably hasn’t been used since Yoda’s childhood.” Brendol teases, and Luke smirks. The Jedi Master goes to his bed and hands him the final volume.

“You could have levitate it.”

“That would be an inappropriate use of the Force.”

“Spoken like a Grandmaster.” _His cheeks turn pink; the farm boy is still part of the Jedi._ Brendol notes as Luke finally makes his exit. He then turns his attention to the book and opens it up.

He sucks in air sharply as he reads the title.

_Volume 40: On The Glorious Dark Lord Exar Kun’s Tomb and his Pyramids._

*

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- There are no links this time. 
> 
> Only three chapters left until the end of this part of the series. 
> 
> Next chapter: Anakin stalks Desolous, Dead-Star tries to sweet-talk Armitage, and the Organa-Solo-Skywalker-Hux family get somewhere.


	21. The Preparations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben and Dead-Star continue to plot, Brendol is feeling his age again, while Kanan is going to be a target for Force Ghost Disaster Anakin soon.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Twenty

++

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- The Bloodbells Chime by Current 93

++

            “Why are we bathing so early?” Dead-Star asks as he struggles to get his tunic over his head and onto the clothes pile. The human— _Armitage_ —is currently smoothing out every little wrinkle as he folds his clothes.  

“Kun wants us to be clean for……a treat.” _A treat? **Perhaps, Kun is planning on springing a trap for us that our Wisties doesn’t know about.** He better not know about it!_

“And he couldn’t wait until after dinner?”

Armitage smiles as he shakes his head. He slips into the water like a snake and ducks underneath the water. He comes up again with soapy hair.

“Come in.” He gently commands. Dead-Star sits at the edge and wades his feet in the pleasantly lukewarm water. Armitage draws closer, ready to catch the dragon-prince. He falls into his arms like he’s home amongst the dying stars.

“I like how you keep me from drowning.”

“Well, yeah, I don’t want you dead.” **_That was an admirable start. Now, try to be complimentary._** _What? **Praise him.**_

“I think……” His golden eyes search desperately for something about Armitage that he finds _affection_ for. His eyes focus on the burnt arm. “The burns on your arm are beautiful.”

“……..”

“I like how the burns are patterned…like… like exposed gears in a melted mechno-arm.”

“…….”

“And they’re red like your hair.”

“……..”

“……..”

“Dead-Star?”

“Yes?”

“Close your eyes.”

“Why?”

“Because I don’t want the soap to get into your beautiful eyes.”

+

“And it never occurred to you to bring this book up?” Brendol watches as Luke reprimands the golden droid. The droid flails his arms as much as his limited joints can allow.

“Master Luke, I could not ascertain the validity of the document; I thought it best to defer to you.”

 _He’s so anxious and eager to please. Like Armitage if he was programmed with no backbone._ He winces as the droid shrinks as though he expected the Jedi to strike him. _Luke grew up free on a slave planet, but he’s no slaver. If he was, I would’ve killed him by now._

“……Fine, next time, notify me immediately.” The droid gives a short bow. “Yes, Master Luke!”

The droid shuffles off, loudly muttering about finding the astromech.

“So when are you going to the tomb?”

Luke turns to look at him; his baby blue eyes dance with youthful exuberance.

“Tonight. Han, Leia, and I will go, while you and Chewie watch over the Initiates.” Brendol frowns.

“I have very little knowledge to offer the younglings.”

“Oh, don’t be so hard on yourself! And you are the only person that they would understand.”

“What about the droid?” Luke rolls his eyes impetuously.

“Threepio knows six-million languages, yet he cannot communicate with the younglings well.” _Translation: he puts them to sleep._

“What about the astromech?”

“Oh, he’s coming with us as backup.”

“Is that all?”

“Hmm?”

“Aren’t you going to bring any….armor?” Luke smiles patiently.

“The Force is my armor.”

Brendol sighs through his nose.

+

“Our new uniforms are so cool!” His Wistie keeps putting on and taking off the hood of his long, white outer robe. Ben smiles pitifully.

“Yes…….they are properly fitted.”

Ben and Armitage are wearing outfits identical to that of Jedi Padawans. They both have on long-sleeved tunics with leggings and boots, but the similarities end there. Ben lacks the outer coat, while his Wistie lacks the utility belt. Ben’s tunic is indigo, while his Wistie’s is white. Ben’s leggings are red, while his Wistie’s are black. Ben’s boots are yellow, hydra-leather, while his Wistie’s are the near-black, dragon-leather.   

_His outfit is more color coordinated than mine. What possessed the Sith Spirit to believe that yellow goes with this much indigo! **They’re just clothes; it’s not like you can eat them.**_

His Wistie grins, flashing his slightly crooked teeth.

“We look like Padawans!” _Well, that explains the lackluster design. But I wish I could braid his hair. Curse, the Academy! **Are we going to burn it down?** Yes. _

“Even though we are being taught by a Sith Lord.”

“Dark Lord. He never received a _Darth_ title.” His Wistie waves his white hand up and down like he’s trying to fan him. “Besides, there are plenty of Sith that started off as Jedi. Darth Revan, Darth Traya, Darth Zannah if you count her stint in the Army of Light, Darth Tyranus, and….Darth Vader.”

“The last two shared the same Master and came from the same Line.” _Oddly, their Master, Darth Sidious, was a ginger just like our Wistie. **But he doesn’t rule over us.** And he never will, we’re equals. _

“Yeah, but your uncle came from that very same Line and didn’t succumb to Palpatine. Although by the Battle of Endor, Palpatine lost his touch.”

“He nearly goaded my uncle into killing my grandfather.”

“But Palpatine wasn’t thinking clearly. Consider Vader’s years of military service alone, Palpatine was insane for thinking that Luke, the farm boy from no-one-gives-a-shit-Tatooine and who killed millions of Imperials, could replace someone as respected and experienced as Vader! If Palpatine actually got what he wanted, then the Empire would’ve fell to Stormtrooper revolts!”

_His hatred for my uncle is growing. **But he’s never even met him! Will he kill him?** Maybe. **Will we stop him?** Depends.  _

“Why did Lord Kun decide to gift us with these…uniforms now?”

“Let’s say it’s part one in the treat.”

“Then, what’s part two?”

His Wistie smiles whimsically.   

“Follow me.”

+

Kanan Jarrus watches Hera scold Jacen for taking _The Ghost_ out for a little joyride with Zeb. To be fair, Jacen is usually as serious as his mother, which is why Zeb likes trying to loosen “the kid” up by dragging him on mildly harmless adventures. Except now _The Ghost_ is without a hyperdrive. Jacen is hanging his green-haired head in shame, while Zeb is scratching at the bites that he got from a pack of monkey-lizards.

_And this is why Hera leaves him with Sabine. The worst that can happen is her dyeing his hair pink._

A soft rapping on his door, pulls him away from his holoprojector just as Chopper is thwacking Zeb on the leg. He opens the door and sees Desolous.

“I would be most appreciative if you would let me in.” _Translating from his formalism to Basic: he needs a place to hide. But from whom?_

“Why not in your own room?”

“I let Skywalker in.” Immediately, he moves aside and lets Desolous in; he then slides the door shut. He then hears Skywalker running loudly and chaotically past his door. For a moment, he listens for any more noise, but is greeted with blessed silence. 

“Why exactly are you hiding from Skywalker? He’s not Vader anymore.” _But most Jedi avoid him because how obnoxious he is. Or at least that’s the reason Depa gave for Mace’s avoidance of him._

“Because his insatiable greed to satisfy his own curiosity is threatening my privacy.”

“Over what? As a Grand Inquisitor?”

His silver eyes hold no affirmation.

“As a Jedi?”

Those eyes bubble with dark emotion.

“Something illicit?”

“Love.” Desolous finally admits.

“…….You’re welcome to stay here as long as you need to.”

+

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- No links this time. 
> 
> I have seen Star Wars: Rebels series finale, but I still do not know the ultimate fate of Ahsoka, Ezra, and Sabine. Since this story was written before the finale, I believed Ahsoka died at the end of “Twilight of the Apprentice.” But since Ahsoka lives at the end of the series finale, I have theorized that she will ultimately sacrifice her life to save Ezra again, or possibly Sabine, because TFA nor TLJ would’ve happened if she were alive by those movies’ timeline. I really do hope that we’ll get an answer, be it in a comic or an animated special/movie, to Ezra’s and Ahsoka’s ultimate fates. However, I am confident that Sabine would live through all of this.
> 
> What I am getting at is that I’m not going to say whether Ezra’s dead or alive in this series for now. 
> 
> The next two-chapters are going to be more jam-packed than this one, but that means they’ll take longer to come out. So be patient.


	22. The Night Beast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never underestimate children.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Twenty-One

++*

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Dead Man Theme by Neil Young

++*

            Exar Kun watches his disciples from the Force contained inside his temple. He can feel his disciples as they walk, and can tell exactly who they are from their steps. In the yellow boots, made from the skin of the once plentiful Battle Hydras, Dead-Star stomps, conveying his perpetual annoyance with every vibration; however, some of the stomps transform into a quiet taps of the boot toe against the stone. That’s Ben showing he has control. 

In the purple-black boots, made from the skin of a lesser dragon, Armitage practically skips like a ballerina and with such little sound that it would be considered silent to Force-nulls. Armitage hasn’t experienced full-blown puberty, given his clear skin and short stature, but he has more real-world experience than any of his Academy classmates. Certainly more than Ben/Dead-Star.

“Books!? This is the treat?!! I CAN’T READ!!” Dead-Star throws a temper tantrum, complete with childish pouting, at Armitage. He can see those blue eyes roll under the shadow of his cowl.

“Hey, don’t get your tail in a twist!” And the dragon mutters under his breath how he has no tail anymore. _I could give him one, but I doubt it would be the tail he wanted._ Exar Kun muses as the dragon throws a temper tantrum.   

“This is treat is clearly for you!” The dragon growls and sputters an add-on. “A-And my costume is stupid!”

 _I only had so much material to work with, and you’re so picky, little Naboo!_ In his flesh days, he would’ve teased the dragon-prince. But he’s trying to conserve his energy as best he can. _I underestimated Ben’s power, and now I’m playing the price._

“No, it’s also for the both of you! There are books on fashion, cooking, and probably some on Naboo for the Prince. And I know there are books for you, Dead-Star, like on Sith alchemy; Sith alchemy can raise the dead, um, transform anyone into anything!” Armitage half-lies. _And there is a book on transformation, but it would only transform him into a mindless beast. But he may be able to retain his self._

“…….Then, find me one, human!” Dead-Star demands with arrogant petulance.

“There are hundreds of books here, so it’ll take a while to go through all of them.” Dead-Star does not predictably scowl, but frowns with sadness weighing heavily in his golden eyes.

“I know you want your true form, but there’s nothing we can do but read and be… _hopeful_.” _“Patience” was on the tip of his tongue, but he changed it out at the last second. Perhaps, he knows that would have angered the dragon. Or depressed him further._ Dead-Star still wears his frown, but his eyes brighten slightly like gold catching the sun.

“I just want to be me.” _There’s a hint of brown suffusing the gold; Ben shares his sentiments. And how could he not? He never wanted to be a Jedi, but what else could he do to assuage his parents’ fears of the Dark Side? He could’ve stolen an X-wing and ran away, but he stayed for them. For now. And then Armitage came along…_

“I’d like to be a dragon too.” Dead-Star furrows his black brows at Armitage’s starry-eyed expression.

“Why?”

“The Commandant was hoping I would be born a dragon considering my… _abnormal_ genetic make-up.” He smiles wistfully, blissfully ignorant of the burning gaze in the dragon-prince’s eyes. “Father said that the Commandant was disappointed that I didn’t even have a tail.”

“….So you wish to please him?” _So much anger contained in so few words._

“Well, I did once. I think I found a better wish.”

“And that is?”

“I wish we could fly together and set the sky on fire one day!” Dead-Star’s pale face turns redder than Armitage’s hair.

“Uhhh………..er……That would be…nice.” The dragon looks away, clearly overwhelmed by his strong emotions.

_I wonder how much of that is Ben’s? He does have an appetite for destruction. But that seems to be in the service of Armitage. How like his grandfather—_

And he feels Light so brilliant that it could only belong to Anakin’s son. And he also feels righteous anger that it could only belong to Anakin’s daughter.  

_I can’t tell if the Force “disclosed” them of my sanctuary, but that doesn’t really matter now. The entrance is shut, but they’ll probably eventually resort to bombs to get in. Which could collapse my temple, killing me and my disciples. I need a distraction._

+

The starchy Topato has been beaten into a creamy broth with crispy bacon bits swirling around like a salty spiral.

_It’s missing something. Like Grasser cheese, the most affordable, “exotic” cheese that Arkanis imported. It was tough, but Rama could make that cheese as soft as his Cyrene silk robe. The black silk would ride up to reveal his moonlight thighs as he rustled his way through the manor…_

Brendol dips a dustcrepe, wheat bread made cracker-thin, into the soup and scoops up some of the bacon.

_Missing something else too. Like a sprinkle of Ju powder. It would give the soup a bit of a punch and add some color to the soup. Blue in white like the heart of a Kyber crystal being claimed. Desolous’s turned blue, but then it began to turn red; he shattered it._

He takes another spoonful and then lets the spoon drop with clatter into the bowl.

_Without Luke and the others, it’s……almost quiet. The insects’ incessant chirping and the scuttling of some medium-sized rodents take away the silence. But it’s not a proper distraction from the past. Hmm, maybe I should just watch something._

He leans back and pulls the red datapad from underneath his pillow. He powers it on and flicks through it almost absentmindedly until he finally comes up with a subject to focus upon.

_John Hurt! But which of his works I should choose from? “1984?” But what if one of the younglings walk in; they’ll be scarred for life by it. “Black Cauldron?” I like the animation and his scenes, but I don’t really care for the kids. Oh, I know which one I should watch!_

He then props the red datapad on the serving tray and scoops up more of the soup.

_“When people told themselves their pasts with stories, explained their presents with stories, foretold the future with stories, the best place by the fireplace was kept for the Storyteller.”_

+

“I have covered as many hallways as I can with the posters, informed my network, and even bribed the librarians to help. Speaking of which, do not go in the library for the next decade or so.” Xanatos announces as he enters Anakin’s room; Anakin is currently printing up new posters and he looks at Xanatos with furrowed brows.

“You have a network?”

“Yes, Skywalker, I do. I was the first of the Line to get sent here, and I figured that the rest of you weren’t coming anytime soon. So, unlike you, I actually got cordial with Jedi outside our Line and the Clone Wars-era Jedi Order.” Xanatos crosses his arms and smugly smirks at him. Anakin rolls his eyes.

“And they still haven’t found him.”

“Well, he’s only been missing for a couple hours after _you_ lost him.” Xanatos places a particularly pleased emphasis on _you_. “I even got Bruck to help out and use his network.”

“Who would actually be part of his network? Other washed-out Initiates?” 

“Remember those younglings _you_ mercilessly slaughtered to save your pregnant wife that _you_ would strangle to near death? Needless to say, those younglings are absolutely terrified of you, so Bruck has been protecting them from you. It doesn’t help that _you_ haven’t even bother to apologize to them.”

“How can I when I don’t know where they are!!?” Xanatos sniggers at Anakin throwing his hands in the air.

“But repenting for your sins isn’t your current concern. Finding this Desolous is. Do you know anything about him? Besides him being your Grand Inquisitor? Like what Line he came from?”

“I don’t know! All I know he was a Jedi Sentinel, and I think he gave Kanan Jarrus a vision or something. Which I think Qui taught him because he mentioned some odd years ago helping someone out. And he was nailing Brendol Hux—”

“So we’ll start with Kanan Jarrus and his Line.”

“He’s of Mace Windu’s Line, but Mace hates me. And I’m pretty certain Depa avoids me too because of him.”

“Because of _you_. We could turn to Mace’s Master. I believe his Master was either T’ra Saa or Cyslin Myr. If it’s the former, then I believe she’s still alive given the longevity of the Neti and because Tholme wouldn’t be sulking so much. If it’s the latter, good chance she’s dead, but she’d probably avoid you too considering what you did to her former Padawan. Which just leaves Kanan.”

“Uh, what about Ezra Bridger?” Xanatos shrugs his elegant shoulders at Anakin.  

“I’ve never seen Space Aladdin waltzing around here, but I’ve seen glimpses of Kanan in the salles. So maybe we can find him in one of them.” Anakin bolts right up and grabs an armful of posters.

“If not, we can hang even more posters!”

Xanatos sighs and shakes his head.  

*

There once was a Massassi named Kalgrath. He was born a proper Sith red and his skin was the only armor he ever needed; no spears could pierce him, no light can burn him. He fancied himself Sith’ari as he adorned himself with gold from his dead rivals.

Then, the Dark Lord returned.

He rounded up the children and hid them away in a place where only he can access. He deprived them of the future and chained them to the past.

He was the Sith’ari, so they obeyed.

Kalgrath killed many Jedi for the Dark Lord. He killed their children. He took pieces of the future. But they have always been chained to the past.

He was Kalgrath once.

And then the Dark Lord put him to sleep in an enchanted chamber.

The red gave way to green, the head became as flat as a stinger-lizard’s, and the body became larger than biologically possible for the Massassi. But he was still Massassi.

And he wakes to see nothing but darkness.

He sniffs the air with flared nostrils. He smells no Massassi. They’ve been gone for a long time. But he smells Jedi, little Jedi that would become killable Padawans. He won’t kill them.

He smells a Jedi Master, bursting with power, another repressing it, and a regular, old human. He will kill all of them.

Quiet as night’s sky, the beast slips out of the Great Pyramid and hunts down his prey.

+

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- Here are the links: 
> 
> Here is an image of Windu’s Master in EU/Legends. T’ra Saa is a Neti, which is Star Wars version of Ents with a splash of Poison Ivy’s beauty thrown in for good measure. I believe that Windu had a crush on his Master, and I don’t really blame him because she comes off as this benevolent goddess. She and Tholme, Quinlan Vos’s Master in both EU and New Canon, were lovers and actually survived Order 66. Tholme would eventually die of old age and received a pyre on Anzat, while T’ra would survive into the Star Wars: Legacy comics. I don’t know much on Cyslin Myr, except that she’s a Mirialan like Luminara Unduli, Barriss Offee, and the Seventh Sister, and Windu’s Master in New Canon. She looks humorless from the picture of her on the Wookie, so I guess that makes her the more appropriate Master for Windu? I hope they give her some characterization beyond super-stern teacher: [Link](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/7/7a/TraSaa.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20150714025610)
> 
> Here is an image of Kalgrath as the Night Beast. In the EU/Legends, he woke up when the Great Pyramid was being bombed and realized that he was essentially the last of his kind. He went on a rampage until Luke used the Force to calm him down. And then he was shipped off to Ziost to live out his remaining days. Yeah, none of that is going to happen here: [Link](https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/starwars/images/4/41/Kalgrath.jpg/revision/latest?cb=20060226090610)
> 
> The next chapter is going to be very long and finally conclude this part of the series. It’s been so long since I’ve actually concluded a multi-chapter work. And afterwards……..
> 
> Next chapter: Leia, Luke, and Han reach the temple, and so does the Night Beast. Ben has a discussion with Exar Kun. Armitage reads. Brendol babysits. And Anakin always gets what he wants.


	23. The Revenge

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This has been a long time coming.

The Disciples of Exar Kun Chapter Twenty-Two

++**

Suggested Theme:

Main Theme- Gassenhauer (1973 _Badlands_ Version) by Carl Orff 

++**

            _“In truth, there is no_

_Better place to be…”_

Brendol Hux opens his sleep-encrusted eyes and blearily sees that his datapad is not in his lap. But in the lap of a barefoot girl at the foot of his bed.

“You’re an initiate.” He says aloud to remind himself that this is not some child assassin hell-bent on vengeance.

“I’m Initiate Tahiri Veila.” The girl whispers shakily with a sob in her throat. Her green eyes are wet with tears, while her human-pink nose is ruddy with snot.

“You should go to the Wookie for comfort.” He bluntly informs her. She shakes her golden head at him.

“W-Who thought using broken girls for assassinations was a good idea!?” _Apparently, you have to be over eleven to handle “Gunslinger Girl.” Then again, this girl is probably from some loving family and she is being trained as a Jedi, so she’s probably been sheltered from harsher realities._

“Some governments. Certain guilds. Corporations. Hutts. Sith. Some Jedi.” He throws the last one out there without hesitation like tossing a droid popper in a field filled with droids.

“Jedi aren’t like that!! You Imperials may have brainwashed yourselves into believing that! And you may perpetuate that filthy lie in the First Order, but the truth is that the Jedi are liberators and peacemakers!” _I’m guessing Luke hasn’t covered the gray areas of galactic history. Which is odd because when Armitage was……smaller than her when he learned that._

“How old are you?” She snorts up her snot and puffs up her flat chest.

“Nine standard years old.” _More than old enough to learn this then._

“When it comes to wars, Jedi often adopt Sith-like tactics out of sheer desperation.” He pauses for her to protest, but she remains respectfully silent. “For example, during the final years of the New Sith Wars, Jedi General Hoth knew he needed a large army, so he recruited as many Force-sensitives as he could, including children. During the Battle of Ruusan, a Republic officer reported seeing children as young as you fighting the Brotherhood of Darkness. And dying in droves.”

“…….I didn’t know that.” Veila admits with red cheeks, and Brendol nods.

“Luke may or may not have already informed you and your other initiates this truth: you can never have complete knowledge of the universe, even with the Force.”

+

“And he’s parroting Triclops’s words.” Kanan immediately hears as he walks into his room where he also sees Desolous scowling before the holoscreen of a beefy, red-going-gray-haired man talking to a blonde-haired girl.

“What are you talking about?” Kanan expects Desolous to ignore him and continue watching the screen.

“The graying man is Brendol Hux, my former……..lover. The little girl is Tahiri Veila, an initiate part of Luke Skywalker’s Jedi Praxeum. He just told her about Jedi Lord Hoth’s less than admirable ways of winning the war against the Sith.”

“There were Jedi Lords—”

“And he told her that you can never have complete knowledge of the universe, not even with the Force. He omitted a sentence from _Triclops’s_ illumination.” Kanan sees Desolous gnashing the venomous name between his carnivorous teeth. “Triclops told him: ‘Bren, I can never have complete knowledge of the universe, even with the Force. Even the Emperor knows this, but he stubbornly refuses to accept.’”

“…….So this Triclops had connections to Palpatine.”

“He was one of the Emperor’s Eyes, and the Eye that the Emperor plucked out himself.” _Oh Force, he’s getting poetical! I’m guessing “Eye” is probably a variant of a Dark Side Adept?_

“So what happened to the other one?”

“Merili of Dathomir made the mistake of trying to enslave the Wookies on Kashyyyk; Quinlan Vos and his lover, Khaleen Hentz, made quick work of her.” Desolous then hastily adds, “They’re still there with a son about the Skywalker Twins’ age.”

“Huh, so that’s why I haven’t seen him around. At least there’s less Dark Siders to worry about now.” He jokes, but Desolous narrows his steely eyes.

“Triclops is still very much alive and far more dangerous than mad Merili can ever hope to be.”

“But aren’t Adepts barely trained in the ways of the Force, so they don’t get the brilliant idea of turning against their Sith Masters?”

“Traditionally, and Darth Sidious only followed tradition so long as it was practical. And with Triclops, he threw tradition out the window until the three-eyed mutant became a failure.”

“What was his failure?”

“Love.”   

+

“And so Darth Rivan threw the Darkstaff into Mordor…”

“What!? But that thing was alive and can bend time and space, and what the Skywalker is a Mordor!?” **_And you’ve turned grandfather’s surname into an expletive?_** _Because he’s evil, and expletives are evil. I think that’s what Armitage was yelling at me about hours ago. **Just because you hear me use it doesn’t mean you should repeat it when you get a paper cut!**_

“Mordor isn’t actually in this, but I’m so tired of reading!” Armitage tosses the book onto the teetering pile of books on the table, causing the twenty book-pile-up to wobble and then crash onto the floor.

“We should just go to sleep then.” Armitage looks at them with wide eyes. _Why is he looking at me like that? **Because you’re being caring without hesitation.**_

“The library will be here tomorrow and the day after that. And you told me it was going to take a while anyways, so no point in you reading yourself to death.” Dead-Star’s cheeks heat up and something flutters inside him like his belly is full of spinning stars.

“Oh……you’re right. We have time, so much time.” **_With Exar Kun._** Dead-Star growls soft enough for it to sound like his stomach is grumbling.

“But first we better get something to eat!”

*

After an exhaustive search of the known salles, and hanging up more posters, Anakin and Xanatos return to Anakin’s room where Bruck is waiting inside with a shit-eating grin plastered on his manipulative face.

“Master, Skywalker, I have found the one you’ve been seeking.”

“Where is Desolous!?”

“In Jarrus’s room most likely. You see a friend of mine, Aurora Adasca, happens to live in Jarrus’s hallway and spotted a certain Pau’an entering his room.” And then Bruck puts a finger to his lips to recuse himself. Anakin storms over and hauls the failed padawan up by his collar, while Xanatos and Bruck exchange bemused smiles.

“Tell me where he is!” Anakin demands, nearly growling at the forever-twelve-year-old.

“I will, but only for a price.” Anakin doesn’t let Bruck up.  

“I’m not going to help you bomb Obi-Wan’s room in the midst of his orgies.” Bruck smirks and shakes his head.

“I just want one favor, no questions asked and that has nothing to do with Obi-Wan, which I can cash in on from now to eternity.” _Force knows what this little bully will have me do, but I doubt it’ll be anything particularly violent because you can’t even get bruises here. And I want the ending to the story so badly!_

“Okay, but if I don’t find him there then the deal’s off!” And Bruck whispers the location into Anakin’s ear; Anakin drops him and hurries out of the room. Xanatos pulls his padawan up from the ground.

“Master?”

“Yes?”

“I made a slip by telling Anakin the name of my source. He would’ve been debt-free if he went after Aurora who would’ve gladly helped him.”

“I just realize that every Master in our Line has dropped the ball in certain areas. Dooku failed to teach Makashi to Qui-Gon. Qui-Gon failed Obi-Wan in regards to the Living Force and in other ways. And Obi-Wan failed Anakin when it came to diplomacy and also in other areas.”  

“And Master you have also failed me.”

“In what exactly?”

“How to live beyond twelve years.”

“But you were never at the mercy of full-blown puberty, or else you’d end up like Skywalker.”

“I should thank Obi-Wan for sparing me of that fate.”

“Yes, but we really should follow Anakin; he’s probably already destroyed that poor man’s room.”

“And I would like to hear this love story that he’s obsessed about.”

“Well, it started with a Pau’an wanting to pfassk the cradle–” His eyes freeze on the holoscreen.

“Master?”

“Anakin has to watch this! _Right now!_ ”

*

Ben rubs at the naked belly of his sleeping ginger. Armitage purrs like a satisfied cat in his deep sleep, belly full of fried crawlfish and lemon-butter; a smile, sickle-shaped, hangs above the freckled face.

 ** _What are you going to do now?_** The Dead-Star Dragon asks of him; Ben’s brown eyes regard the sleeping ginger.  

 _Have a conversation with Exar Kun._ And the dragon sees **_hate_** with its nebulous claws taking hold of the fragile serenity in those brown eyes and rending it into half-spheres. **_Hate_** fills the other half and makes those eyes as hard and as dark as the dragon’s old skin.

The dragon curls around his heart and shivers.

+

The Jedi pleads to his companions to hold their fire, but the old man and woman fire anyway. The red blasts bounce off his magnificent skin like the spears in bygone days.

 _“It’s steeped in the Dark Side! Can’t you feel it, Leia!?”_ The Jedi whispers, but the woman keeps firing for it seems better than doing nothing. Even though it’s worse since it wastes energy.

 _“I’m not letting that **thing** get in my way, Luke!” _She uses the Force to steal the lightsaber from the Jedi’s belt and ignites it. The blade is as green as his skin lurking beneath the murky darkness.

She strikes him and that too bounces off of him, and he sends her flying back to her party with the strength of his arms. He knocks down the man, while the Jedi uses the Force to retrieve his lightsaber.

 _“Of course, it wouldn’t work!”_ The man curses at him as he picks himself up and then gingerly helps the woman up.

The Night Beast feels the Jedi’s Force trying to push him away from the couple, but he stays firmly grounded as the Jedi grunts and groans as though he’s moving the Great Pyramid itself.

_“He’s resistant to the Force, Luke!”_

The Night Beast charges toward them.

+

He did not expect Ben to come to him; the boy usually covets Armitage for as long as he can. _And he could longer if he chose to destroy the dragon. Perhaps, the boy believes that killing the dragon will also kill himself. It’s possible, or, more likely, he plans to use the dragon like he did with the Battle Hydra. Will he kill it after its usefulness ends? Or spare it if Armitage pleads prettily for it?_

And he knows that the Night Beast, the last of the Massassi, should have found the Skywalker twins and the smuggler by now.

_I don’t think the twins are quite dead yet; Ashla would’ve grieved for another dead Chosen One. So why is he here? Will he finally threaten me for being close to his Wistie? Probable._

Ben makes it to his tomb; the red light of the crystal pierces those brown eyes and makes the darkness shine like black holes.

“Hello, Ben. Did you and Armitage enjoy my gifts?” _Armitage did; his tastes are far less exacting than this one._

“Hello, Lord Kun. Armitage looked very lovely in the outfit you designed. The black leggings are particularly form-fitting; it’s a good thing you accessorized it with a white cloak. Like wrapping hiding a Life Day present.” Ben tilts his head and smiles like he’s found the Star Forge.

 _Is he implying I’m a pedophile? I’m a ghost; I can’t even have sex. Especially not with a child. Even if he does worship the ground I float above._ He remembers how close the Battle Hydra came to death because of Ben’s obsession. _Because that’s what it is. Just like his grandfather before him, he became obsessed with a whimsical ginger. But this ginger is innocent of this child-predator wanting to be the ONLY one worthy of his affection. It’s just going to get worse with puberty…_

“It’s a pity I didn’t have enough material for yours. It would’ve have been nice to have you two complement each other. Black and white. Red and black.” He lies by omission. Ben closes his eyes, hiding his soul very much like the dragon hiding his thoughts.

 _But the Force does not hide. He’s plotting against me. A Sith Lord of Bane’s Line would be proud._ But he is not.

“A pity really.” The boy’s smile finally goes away and he turns around. His eyes release the red, but his hair ensnares it with eight strands.

Exar Kun wraps the Force around himself like a cocoon.

*

Leia feels Han wrap an arm around her, ready to become her human-shield. The monster draws closer to them; its feet talons scratch at the rocks. It licks its forked tongue across its sharpened teeth and flexes its claws.

 _Leia, I have a flash bomb in my pocket. When I throw it, I’ll use the Force to pull you two away from its vicinity._ Leia grimaces, knowing that there’s still a chance that she and Han will still feel the bomb’s effects.

 _Wait, until it’s closer and aim for its mouth. Perhaps, the shrapnel will kill it or at least blind it._ From the corner of her eye, she sees Luke nod. Leia then wraps an arm around Han, which causes her husband to realize that the twins have a plan. And he gives his usual rejoinder: a sigh waiting for the plan to go to poodoo.

The monster stalks closer and then freezes as though it’s been stunned.

She feels the Force around it tremble and become heavy like miasma. Its eyes lose their vacancy and the black slits become round as pupils. Its fork tongue crawls back into its mouth.

“ _Kalgrath_.” It rasps, and tears as clear as the night sky above roll down its scaly cheeks.

The monster resumes its movements but brushes past them and Luke. The monster then runs, snapping through the trees and clearing a path for the trio to follow.

“What just happened?” Han looks at them with veiled suspicion like this was their doing. Luke shakes his head and refutes that.

“It’s going to the temple.”

*

_He is a Wistie with red wings fluttering through the garden at night. Sir Ludo waves at him with a broken tea cup enclosed in his skeletal hand as he passes by the rusty garden table. He makes his way to the border of the estate where the shack is sewn tight with cobwebs._

_“Where are you spider?” He sings-songs and then decides to weave past the webs, and enters the bog._

_Deep in the bog, where the salamanders and turtles play, there’s a web that glitters like the false diamonds in ladies’ collars. A sapphire-colored Bogey is trapped in the web. It wriggles for help, and the Wistie goes to help it._

_“Now you’re mine!” And the spider, as black as coal, descends upon him._

**_CRACK!_ **

Armitage wakes up, choking back a scream. He sees Ben/Dead-Star as quiet as corpse by them. He also sees that most of the books on the shelves have fallen.

“Ben, Dead-Star?” He says loudly, but neither stirs.

**_CRACK!_ **

_Okay, that’s actually happening! How in the Hells have they’ve not woken up!?_ He resorts to shaking them, but they still do not stir. He sighs and quickly puts on his clothes, pulls on his boots, and straps on his sword belt. He then picks up the sleeping dragon-prince.

 _I don’t know what’s going on, but I can’t leave them here. And maybe Kun will know what’s making that noise!_ He runs as fast as he can to the Sith Spirit’s room, his sword lightly swats at his legs, and then comes to a dead halt at the threshold.  

A reptilian beast with yellow eyes, round like most humanoids, has cracked open the stone sarcophagus. And inside is…..

 _Nothing. The Temple, and it’s coming down._ He hears Kun’s voice inside his head.

 _But it’s just your sarcophagus and probably the door that’s been destroyed. You should be fine._ Kun chuckles darkly and strongly like midnight caf.

_I withdrew the Force and used it to protect myself, and it’s hard to undo such protection. It would take more energy than I have to tie myself back to the Temple. I didn’t think Kalgrath would come back; he’s not that strong with the Force. And yet–_

_Do you want me to kill Kalgrath?_ Distress undercuts his thoughts as Kalgrath eyes him warily for a moment. 

_No, no. I believe it’s time for me to go._

_Go? Go where? The Great Pyramid?_

_Once this place is destroyed, I’ll be cut off from my other structures I built. I really should’ve planned that better, but hindsight is 20/20._

_You could possess me. I’d let you!_

_That is very kind of you, Armitage, but I think it’s time for me to leave this part of existence. I believe it’s time for me to go where all Sith Lords go, the Netherworld. Perhaps, I can become the King of the Netherworld._

_But what about the Sith Lords there? I doubt their undead pride will allow a newcomer like you to boss them around._

_Well, I won’t know until I go. And if it goes badly, then you can come and rescue me._

_B-But how? I’m not a Force-user, so there’s no way I can end up there._

_You’ll find a way. You’re resourceful like that._

Armitage’s cheeks and eyes burn, and so too his ears from Kalgrath’s renewed destruction of the room. The Temple shakes as though it’s in the throes of a violent cramp that will soon become a full-blown earthquake.

_Kalgrath busted the door open, so all you need to do is ascend._

_Thank you._

_I hope to see you again._

Armitage nearly drops the sleeping dragon-prince in the next tremor and decides to go. And as he ascends, the red crystal shatters.

+

Desolous and Kanan are sharing a pot of Jeru tea. Kanan wouldn’t normally drink it since he didn’t like the syrupy texture, but it’s supposed to have a calming effect.

 _At least he isn’t obsessively watching the screen anymore._ But the Pau’an is tense and gripping his cup hard enough for it to break.

 _But nothing really breaks here._ He likes that about the afterlife: no broken bones, no bruises, no blindness, and no blood. It’s peaceful when the denizens choose it to be.

His door slides open, and Anakin Skywalker enters with all the grace of a maglev train off its tracks.

“Try not to ruin Kanan’s room; that’s the least you can do.” Desolous keeps his tone even as Anakin manages to knock some training sabers down as he makes his way to the low table.

“I’ve see you’ve altered the deal.” Kanan would have given a chuckle at the line, but the delivery had the terseness of a rebellion.

“You know that I will keep looking well beyond reason. I won’t stop until you tell me the rest of the love story.” And Skywalker stands there with his arms cross, waiting like an impatient Master for his Padawan to get the kata right. Desolous puts the cup down and looks up at Skywalker with defiance burning in those eyes. But he can sense the resignation in the Force around Desolous, and so can Skywalker.

“I knew you would do the right–” And two Jedi, one an adult and one a child, burst into his room very much like Skywalker did.

“Anakin, you have to watch your kids right now!” With no question, or asking permission from Kanan, Anakin goes to the holoscreen and turns it on.

_Two children come out of some underground place in the middle of a dead lake; one is clothed like a parody of a padawan, while the other is in his underwear._

_“Ben, Armitage!” Leia Organa shouts and then frowns. “Armitage, where are Ben’s clothes?”_

_“…………He hated them anyway.” Armitage says sullenly without looking at her._

_“Are you alright?” Luke Skywalker inquires, searching for marks, bruises, and any signs of torture on them. Armitage looks at him with blue eyes as hard as durasteel._

_“I hate you.” It is then that Ben finally stirs in Armitage’s arms. He rubs at his eyes and looks up at Armitage who shuts his hostility and flashes a welcoming smile._

_“You sleep like the dead.” He teases, while Ben smiles sleepily at him._

_“And you saved me again, Sir Knight.”_

_And the temple collapses in on itself._

“AWWWWWWWWWWWWW!” Skywalker gushes before the screen, while the other two look on with utter disgust.

“Anakin, he was totally faking sleeping!” The child waves his hands with exasperation, while Skywalker shakes his head in utter denial.

“And he probably killed the reptile monster while at it, which was probably the last of its kind.” The adult pipes in, while Skywalker keeps shaking his head.  

“Yeah, I agree–” Desolous shakes his head at Kanan, a subtle gesture of telling him to shut up lest he gets dragged into this craziness.

“See, even…..Caleb? Kanan? Depa’s Padawan agrees!” The adult points out, while Anakin continues to shake his head.

“He doesn’t know Ben at all, so his opinion doesn’t matter.” Kanan feels the twinge, like a ghost limb, of a headache coming his way.

“Skywalker, I will tell you the rest of the story in the _privacy_ of my quarters.” Desolous resigns to his fate.

“Woo-hoo! Two wins in one day!” Anakin beams, while the adult and child mumble under their collective breaths that’s it been far longer than that. While Desolous has his face buried in his hands from how farcical his afterlife has become.

“Now you’ve gotten that sorted out. Get the pfassk out of my room!” 

+

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Author’s Comments- Here is the link: 
> 
> Here is the link to the main theme of the chapter. Usually, I don’t provide a link to the main theme, unless it solely drove me to write or there’s a very interesting music video to it, but this time I provided it because it’s a fitting theme for Ben’s confrontation with Exar Kun. And, well, Ben/Dead-Star in general since it’s eerily pretending to be innocent: [Link](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tEgzGnzojc)
> 
> This chapter is loaded with Legends/EU references. Merili was one of the Emperor’s Eyes and was gifted in seeing the future, and given her training and background as a Dathomir witch, she went insane. She’s dead in Legends, but I altered how she died in this because I doubt Quinlan would let this crazy witch enslave Wookies on his watch. Oh, and Quinlan, in the EU, ends up with Khaleen Hentz who was a human spy for Dooku, and those two essentially ran off together towards/by the end of the Clone Wars and end up in Kashyyyk with a son named Korto Vos.
> 
> Crawlfish come from Star Wars Galaxy, an MMO that got shut down in 2011. Crawlfish are like crawfish crossed with a lobster. Darth Rivan and the Darkstaff are also part of Legends. 
> 
> Gunslinger Girls is a manga that got adapted into an anime with two vastly different seasons. It’s about girls, typically broken after horrible events in their lives and/or abandoned by their parents, who are augmented with cybernetics and “conditioned” to become assassins for the Social Welfare Agency in Italy to fight against homegrown terrorists. I was actually reminded of Maul in sense of them, considering how he too was trained to be an assassin, except these girls get love and affection from their brothers/handlers. Well most of them; fuck you, Jean. I never got to read the ending of the manga because it never made its way to bookstores where I lived, but I read about in the Wiki and was…….shocked not all of them died. Unless you count the twenty years later epilogue where the first generation, aka what’s left of the main four girls, should be dead/killed by then. 
> 
> Aurora Adasca is another character from Legends/EU; she was an Arkanian Jedi scout, who was kidnapped by the Jedi (as her uncle claims) because of her Force-sensitivity, during the Mandalorian Wars for the Revanchist movement. The movement was led by Revan, yes the future Darth Revan, and were essentially Jedi Crusaders fighting against the invading Mandalorian Neo-Crusaders. 
> 
> So this finally concludes this part of the series, and the next part should be a one-shot that will launch into another multi-chapter story. Next part should be about Desolous finishing the story, recovery for all those injured, and Dead-Star processing life outside of Exar Kun’s Temple.

**Author's Note:**

> Author’s Comments- No links this time. 
> 
> Hux and Ben don’t really “meet” Exar Kun in this chapter; it happens in the next. This chapter is mostly about the beginnings of separating Ben’s carefully-crafted Prince Amidala from himself when he’s with Hux because Prince Amidala only makes up a third of his identity; he also has his Solo and Skywalker sides that may go-together at times. This also serves as a bit of a glimpse into my version of Hux’s childhood. Plus, Ben Solo actually encounters the real Dark Side because I don’t really hold Snoke to the caliber of most Sith Lords and Dark Siders, especially to Exar Kun. 
> 
> So next chapter: Hux and Ben finally meet Exar Kun.


End file.
